For My Joe
by Emilia
Summary: It's Baaaaaaaaa-aaack! That's right, the first fanfic I EVER wrote has been revised, spell checked and is beign re-posted juust for you! It's a crossover with my comic series GQ ^^ and is abotu Joe! Go Joe go!
1. 1: Joe

Disclaaaimer: Don't own Digimon, how about that? *laughs* but I _do_ own Candymon, her digivolutions, the character Emily, and any other concept that involves GQ. The characters Katie and Bunnymon are owned by my best friend Keava.

~~*~~

Well HOW about that???? I felt a little bad for taking my GQ xover series down, so as soon as I saw this nifty new chapter system they have on ff.net, I thought to myself- self! We're back in business! ^_^ And now I can still try to make it to 50 without the help of two stories with 16 parts each! Koolies ne? I decided to trash the introduction and the breaks with the author things. I don't think there was really anything of importance in them, so if you DO get lost on something in the fic, feel free to e-mail me at [StarWars_chick@hotmail.com][1] and I'll be happy to enlighten you ^^; SO now I leave you to read the first fanfic I EVER wrote (on February 22nd, 2000 at…*checks properties* 10:10pm!) And I even spell checked and re-read all the parts for errors! It's kind of to celebrate one year anniversary of my fanfic writing. Go me! Go me! Ja ne! ~Emilia

Oh one more thing… I wrote this RIGHT when I had started watching Digimon, so there's *shudder* Tai x Sora and Tk x Kari hinting….ick ick ick… well it's okay cause NOW I write mostly yaoi stuffage w/ the exception of Koushiro x Mimi stories, so ummm okay. I'll shut up now ^_^ Have fun! N Remember! Jyou is THE bishonen!!!

For My Joe

By Emilia

"Hey! Watch it!" Joe heard Matt's voice, but it was too late. He tripped over a rock and went flying, causing Gomamon to go flying even farther off his shoulder. 

"Aaaaaaaaaaaah!" There was a thud as Joe landed face first in a puddle of mud. There was another thud a Gomamon landed on top of Gabumon who landed on Agumon, whose tail hit Biyomon, who fell on Palmon, who hit Gatomon, who hit Tentamon. The only one who managed to avoid the pile up was Patomon who stayed out of reach on TK's head.

There was a dead silence for 1.5 seconds, and then Tai, Matt, and Izzy were on the ground rolling with laughter. "Di- did you see that?" Tears were streaming out of Tai's eyes "He was just walking along and then he was just all 'Aaaaaah!' and then Gomamon went flying and they all went 'boom!' one after the other like dominoes!"

"The unavoidable pendulum affect was hilarious." Izzy stood up and brushed the dust off of his precious laptop.

"Man, oh man!" Matt brushed himself off as tears streamed from his cheeks.

"Matt! Why are you crying?" TK rushed up to Matt with a look of concern that only the innocent posses. 

"It's ok, kiddo. I was just laughing so hard at Joe that- oh! Sorry Joe!" Matt turned to see Joe who was standing up with the help of Sora and Mimi.

"You guys are so cruel!" Sora ranted. "Joe falls down and you act like you just watched a comedy marathon. I swear, sometimes I wonder if Mimi and I are the only mature ones in here!"

"I don't know Sora, Personally, I thought it was hilarious, especially when Agumon hit Biyomon. " Mimi giggled in her bubbly voice.

"Look at me! I'm Joe! 'What rock? Aaaaah!' " Joe sighed and turned his back away from the taunting boys as they took turns pretending to be him tripping and flying with Gomamon into Gabumon, which caused them all, even Sora, to laugh. 

Gomamon, looked around anxiously. Where was Joe? He was about to tell Tai, who was closest to him, that Joe was gone. But then he noticed Joe's silhouette leaning against a tree, staring at the ground. It hurt him to see his friend looking sad, so he hopped over to where Joe was, in hopes of cheering him up.

A few leaves fluttered from the branches of the tree and lay themselves gently on Joe's blue hair. He didn't care. His thoughts were somewhere else for the time being and his appearance didn't seen to matter to him. He didn't care that the wind was so cold, he'd been forced to pull his socks up to his knees for warmth most of the time. He didn't care that his shorts were starting to ride-up from all the walking he'd done. He didn't care that his sweater-vest had a small tear in the back. He didn't care that this favorite watch was all beaten-up, waterlogged, and probably broken. He didn't care that his glasses were spotted with mud from his fall. In fact, for ,maybe, the first time since they'd gotten to the Digiworld, a tear or two trickled slowly down Joe's face, carving pathways through what was left of the mud.

__

Why me? He closed his eyes and leaned his head back. _If Tai or Matt had fallen down, they wouldn't be teasing them. They'd be going "Oh are you ok?" But no, not with me. Not even Sora or Mimi. They all act like I'm as old as TK or Kari. The next thing you know, Matt's going to wanna hold my hand while we're walking through the woods, and they'll always make me stay behind, even though I'm the oldest. And the stupid part is, if TK had fallen down, they'd be acting like he'd been attacked by a pack of rabid piranhas. And I'll bet Matt would treat him like an accident victim._

__

Tai says that we all need to stick together in this group, and we're all in this battle together, but sometimes, I just feel so- He stopped and opened his eyes. 

Tai was showing off his soccer moves to Sora and Kari who smiled and laughed with him. Matt was helping TK draw a picture of their old house in the dirt with a stick. Izzy was showing Mimi his latest email from Gennai, and his latest addition, a digital camera. Mimi smiled sweetly several times as Izzy took her picture and then showed it to her on his laptop.

Joe sighed again, then finished his sentence aloud. "Sometimes, I just feel so alone." He went limp against the tree and sat down on the ground, keeping his back against it.

"Aw don't feel alone Joe! I'll always be your friend and like you no matter what!" Gomamon hopped into Joe's lap and put his paws on his chest, hoping to see a change in his expression. No such luck. 

"It's not you Gomamon. It just seems like everyone has a friend that they already had when we lived at home. Well, all except Izzy and Mimi. I have no idea how those two got together."

"I don't get it. You mean like how Mimi has Palmon and Izzy has Tentamon? But we all met here, not where you came from."

"No, no, no. I mean human friends. Tai has Kari and Sora; Matt has TK; Izzy has Mimi. Where does that leave me?" Joe dragged his index finger through the dirt, making an un-symmetrical heart, then dragging his hand over it to erase it all.

"But what's love got to do with it Joe?" Gomamon batted the leaves out of Joe's hair. He stopped and looked thoughtful for a second. "You feel lonely," He concluded. "Not physically, but mentally and spiritually. Funny. I'd never think of someone like you craving that kind of attention Joe. No offense."

Joe gave his digimon a "thanks a lot" look and closed his eyes again. Every body has someone that they love or care about! Kari and Sora love Tai, and Tai loves them. Matt loves TK because they're brothers. Izzy and Mimi just have a special relationship together. Joe drifted back to the night before when he'd woken up to see the shapes of Izzy and Mimi kissing against the light of the moon. He knew it was Mimi because of she was the only one who wore a huge pink hat. His first reaction was to feel happy for them, then he was hit again with the realization that he had no one.

At home, there had never been time to feel alone. He had to study and make sure he go into med.-school to be able to support himself. And then there was school, homework, fighting with Jim, running errands; it was a dull way to live, but someone had to do it. But now that he was out on his own, surrounded by nothing that was familiar, there was more than enough time for his emotions to catch up to him, and when they did, they burned him like a drop of water on a skillet. They all came rushing back to him as he dealt with the people around him.

Joe was suddenly brought back to reality by the sound of Izzy's voice shouting "hey you guys! You better come see the latest email I've received from Gennai!"

"Come on Joe!" Gomamon perched himself on Joe's shoulder and Joe wearily rejoined the others.

"I thought you might like to know," The animated image of Gennai paced back and forth across the screen, "That there is another child who is in the woods quite near you. I'm just letting you know right now that, unlike you children, her digimon, as well as herself have strong powers. But her digimon can only digivolve twice, meaning it goes straight from in-training, to rookie, to ultimate."

"So the new digi destined is a girl." Izzy commented.

"The new digi destined is a girl, just so you know, Sora, Kari, and Mimi, you'll have some company and the number of boys and girls should be evened out a bit."

"I wonder if he planned it like that?" Mimi whispered in Izzy's ear.

"I didn't plan it that way," Gennai continued, "And be sure to tell Gatomon that she should be pleased when she sees the 9th child's digimon. Over and out" The image of Gennai was gone and a stir went through everyone.

"Gatomon, do you know who Gennai was talking about?" questioned Kari.

"No," Gatomon shook her head. "Just about everything before Myotismon is blank."

Izzy replayed the message from Gennai and listened for the part he wanted to re-hear. "Her digimon as well as herself has strong powers. But her digimon can only digivolve twice, meaning it goes straight from-" Izzy stopped the message.

"This 9th child has powers? Incredible! I wonder if she, in any way, is related to Gennai or from another planet."

"I doubt it," Sora took off her helmet and smoothed back her hair. "Gennai said it was a 'her' and I don't think it's possible for him to be able to call an alien a girl."

An excitement jumped through everyone as they talked about what they thought the 9th child would be like. "I'll bet she's got guts! Especially since she's in the woods on her own." Tai twisted the edge of hit T-shirt into a knot in his anticipation.

"I hope she brought some make-up with her. I'm almost out" Mimi checked herself in her compact.

"I'll bet she's as smart as Gennai, especially since he spoke highly about her. And I'm still curious about her powers." Izzy tapped excitedly on his laptop.

"I hope she knows more about what's going on here than we do." Matt kicked the ground.

"I hope she brought some video games with her!" TK jumped up and down.

"I just hope she's ok out there until we meet up." Sora looked out into the woods. "What do you think Joe? Joe?"

"He's over there," Gomamon nodded towards Joe who was sitting at the base of the tree again, staring at the ground, "I'll get him"

__

Great, another person to ignore me. I wonder who's going to love her? Matt probably; Especially if TK likes her. And as usual, they'll all forget about me and that I don't have anyone. I wonder if this is how Einstein felt when everyone told him he was crazy for wondering what made the needle in his compass point north? "Huh?" A shout from Gomamon brought him back. "Aaaah! What's that?"

"It's only Candymon, Joe. Don't be afraid. She's a good one!" Gomamon, who was soon joined by Augumon, Biyomon, Tentamon, Gabumon, Palmon, Patomon, and Gatomon, rushed over to greet a small, rainbow colored digimon who resembled a koala bear. Her green and blue eyes lit up when she saw Gatomon.

"Candymon!"

"Gatomon!" The two Digimon rushed to each other happily as the old friends were reunited. "Gatomon, what happened to you? You disappeared that day after we saw all the bats and then I find you here in the woods on a picnic with a bunch of….uhhhh what are they?" She waved her red, purple, and blue striped paw at the 8 digidestined.

"They're humans Candymon. The Digi Destined who are supposed to save the Digiworld from evil."

"Ya don't say? I found a thing like that yesterday while I was eating. Fell right out of the sky into my tree and made me choke on my sugar-leaves. Scared the bejabbers out of me, so I said 'Looky here Emily! You can't go falling out of the sky when I'm eating! It could give me heartburn!'"

"You knew her name?" Matt asked in shock.

"Uh huh. It just popped into my head when I saw her. Great 'person' (I guess that's what they're called)."

"Uh, excuse me," Izzy stepped forward, "Does Emily have one of these?" He held out his digivice. 

"Yeah. She said that it- Oh I can't remember! Why don't you ask her? I can go get her!"

"Wait a second!" Kari's voice grew excited, "Candymon knows Gatomon! Candymon knew Emily's name when she saw her for the first time! Emily has a digivice! That means-"

"Emily's the 9th child!" Everyone yelled.

"Can you go bring her to us please?" Tentamon asked.

"I'll try, but it's getting dark. I might get lost on the way back."

" Stay with us until morning then!" Sora suggested.

"Sorry, but I can't leave Emily by herself. She was totally afraid her first night. She tried to throw some kind of shiny leaf or something at me. That is, after she transformed."

"Transformed?"

"Oh yeah! She jumped back, pulled a thing out of her bag and yelled out 'Star Wars!' Then there was this flash and she was wearing this whole new outfit. She grabbed a leaf, held it really tight, and it changed color and shape. Then she threw it at me. I caught it and tried to eat it; tasted horrible! 

"So then I said 'Cut it out Emily! You shouldn't throw things like that at people!' and she stopped. After I calmed her down, she took off this mask thing she had on and she changed back to normal, if that's what she's supposed to be like."

"Hmmm," Izzy was quiet for a second, then said, "The best thing for us to do is send someone to go with Candymon to get Emily. That way, they can help Candymon get back and not get lost."

"That makes sense," Sora turned to everyone, "Who wants to go with Candymon to go get Emily?"

"Oh! Me!"

"No! Me!" Tai and Matt argued. Each of them wanted to desperately meet this new digi destined. "I wanna go!" Matt shoved Tai.

"No! Me!" Tai shoved Matt backwards. The scuffled for a few seconds, then Sora broke them up.

"I'll go." They all turned to see Joe, still sitting under his tree, raising his hand.

"Yeah Sora! Let Joe go! We haven't gotten to do anything fun like that in a while!"

"Oh ok. Joe, you and Gomamon go with Candymon to get Emily. If it gets too dark before you get there, turn back."

"Gulp! Ok Sora. You got it!" Joe stood up and dusted off the seat of his pants. He picked up his bag that he always carried and then helped Gomamon perch himself on his shoulder. 

"Ok Candymon," Gomamon called from Joe's shoulder, "Show us where to go!"

   [1]: mailto:StarWars_chick@hotmail.com



	2. 2: Emily

As they walked along, the woods seemed to get darker and thicker. The weight of Gomamon was starting to put a pain in Joe's side and his shorts were riding up again. _I don't know why I'm doing this. It'll probably end up like the time I tried to climb Infinity Mountain. Only this time, I'll be stuck with Gomamon, and a koala bear that looks like it fell in a vat of lollipops_. He shook his head to himself. _I'm not good at this comforting thing. I hope this girl isn't going to cry her eyes out when she sees me and start saying how just wants to go home or that she wants her mom. _"You're awfully quiet Joe," Gomamon twisted his head in front of Joe to look at him.

"Huh? I was just thinking, that's all."

"You're worried that the 9th child is going to make everyone care even less about you, right?"

"Where'd you get that idea?"

"You were muttering to yourself."

"Oh. Oops."

"We're almost there," interrupted Candymon." Only a little farther ways to go."

Fifteen minutes later, they came to a wall of flowers that seemed to surround a large circle of trees. Joe was about to push his way through when Candymon caught him by the ankle and said, "No, no, no! Not that way! You'll spook her just barging in like that!" She cupped her paws over her mouth, "Emily! I'm ba-ack! And I brought guests!"

"Ok Candymon! I'm just playing my guitar." A voice called out.

"A what?"

"Just come and see it! I'll explain to you how it works later!"

"Ok! Fine then! Come on you two!" Candymon hit a root sticking up from a tree and the flowers parted to reveal a teenage girl sitting under a canopy of leaves and flowers. She was strumming a guitar in her lap when she looked up.

"Back so soon Candy? Where did you- Oh!" She stopped when she saw Joe and Gomamon.

"Uh, hi! I'm uhhhhhh. Ummmmmm. My name is..."Joe stuttered.

"His name is Joe, and I'm Gomamon!" Gomamon hopped down off Joe's shoulder and extended his paw to her.

"Pleased to meet you! I'm Emily," She rose from her seat and faced Joe, "Hi Joe," she held out her hand, "I'm Emily. I didn't think I'd see another human around here ever."

"Hi," Joe murmured. Then he blurted out "You have really long hair!" and blushed in embarrassment. 

Emily blushed too and laughed. It was true. If Emily's hair were to stand straight up, she'd be exactly 2 feet taller than Joe, because they were the same height. Besides having two foot long brown hair, Emily had deep brown eyes. She had medium toned skin and was rather thin. She was wearing a blue tank top with a metallic blue vest over it. She had on green denim flares and black army boots that were splattered with mud.

Joe eyed her vest, attracted to its shine. "Nice vest," he commented.

"Thanks," she smiled and then looked at his sweater-vest," Did you know there's a hole in yours?"

Joe blushed again, "Yeah, I got it from tripping on a rock and making Gomamon go flying through the air and hit Gabumo- oh on! I forgot!"

"What is it?"

"We have to get out of here! You need to come with me and go to the others. You have to come with us if you're the 9th child and they're waiting for us and-"

" The others? Who are they? And the 9th child? What are you talking about? Hey! You have one of these things too?" She held out her digivice. "What is this thing?"

"That's a digivice. It helps your digimon digivolve. Wait, who's your digimon?" Joe looked at Candymon, "Are you?"

"Yup."

"You're my what?" Emily was confused.

"Well, see," Joe sat down across from Emily, "Gomamon is my digimon. He's the first digimon I met when I got here, and he knew my name even though I'd never seen him before. Then we met the others and they all had digimon too, but we had no idea what we were doing here."

"This sounds like a long story," Emily put her guitar to the side, "Why don't you give me your sweater-vest and I'll fix the hole, while you tell me the whole story up to when you met Candymon, or until I'm done with you vest."

"Ok. Here goes. It all started one day at camp..."

An hour passed and Emily was finished with Joe's vest, but she urged him to go on with his story. He told her everything; about Devimon on Infinity Mountain, about Etemon and his dark network, about their search for the 8th child, and about the destruction of Myotismon.

"Geeze Joe! You must have been awfully brave to have gone through all that!"

"Me? Brave? No way! Tai and Matt, they're the brave ones, not me!"

"Well, he does have his moments," Gomamon said hesitantly.

"Like when?" 

"Like when you climbed Infinity Mountain with me and tried to get rid of the black gear. Or how about when you figured out how to stop the Bakemon leader? Or when you threw yourself on Vegimon to save TK? Or when you charged off to stop Myotismon after my inspiring speech?"

"Gomamon, all you said was 'All for Mon and Mon for all.'"

"I know! Wasn't it great? And you wanna know the two other extremely brave things Joe's done?"

"What?" Emily leaned forward, waiting it hear what heroic feat Gomamon would bring up next.

"There was when He, Tai, Agumon, and I all sang kareoke. He sang the longest and the best. He had to be pretty brave to do that for a bunch of gekomon!"

"And what's the other thing he did?" 

"Well, we had just come back from the Digiworld and we needed a ride home so he-"

"Oh no! Gomamon! Don't!" Joe screamed in terror.

"He and Izzy went out into the street and they-"

"Nooooooo!" Joe hid his face in his hands.

"They went out in the street and did the 'Taxi Dance!'"

"Aaaah! Gomamon how could you?"

"It went like this!" Gomamon got up and danced around with his paws in the air, kicking one of his back flippers up behind him in a crazy rhythm as he yelled out "Taxi! Heeeeeey Taxi!"

Emily was in hysterics and Candymon has on her back, kicking her feet up in the air with her laughter. Joe blushed and the glared and the smiling Gomamon, "Traitor!"

On the way back to the others, the story of Emily slowly unfolded. She was on her way to go practice with her band GQ, when a strange object fell from the sky. She picked it up and was suddenly brought here by a flash of blinding light. "You'd think I'd have learned about picking up strange objects by now. That's how I got my super powers."

"So Gennai was right! You do have powers!"

"Gennai? I s he the guy that lives in the lake? Oh never mind. I was telling you about how I got my powers.

"Well one day, my friends (and band members) Katie, Betsy and I were coming back from a movie when we saw these credit cards on the ground. We each picked one up and then read the label on them. Katie's said 'N'sync', Betsy's said 'Korn', and mine said 'Star Wars'. Well once we read them, this flash of lightning comes down and we have on these weird costumes. My friend Katie's purse had turned into a ray gun, my friend Betsy's hair had turned into snakes and her phone choker had turned into a phone. Katie screamed when she saw Betsy's snakes, and threw her hands up, causing her to break a window. That's how we figured out that Katie's power was to control sound. Betsy's was that she could make the snakes in her hair do what ever she wanted. Then I picked up a lotto ticket. It turned out to be a loosing one and I crumpled it up with my hand. When I squeezed it, it turned into a gold card. We decided that, since we had powers, we should become heroes. My super name is Gold Card, Katie goes by CATastrophe, and Betsy goes by Madame Medusa. Then the bad guys started to show up and we had to deal with them. First there was the Pokefreak, then there was the Nose, and then…" she stopped and looked away.

"What's wrong?" Joe touched Emily's arm gently, and he felt her relax under his touch.

"Well," she sniffed, "I had this boyfriend named Greg. He was the only other person who knew that we were super heroes. He saw me change when we first met the Nose, and he was sworn to secrecy. Then, one week, his family went on vacation. Betsy, Katie and I went to the mall, and Katie suddenly spotted Greg talking to a girl we'd never seen before. I was so angry that we all transformed and I confronted him. When I did, he closed his eyes and his head stated to inflate like a balloon. When it stopped, he looked different, and he revealed to us that he was the super villain known as the Brain. We defeated him, and never heard from him again. We saved the world, but now, I'm all alone. 

"I know I have my friends Katie and Betsy, but they both have guys that love them. Katie has her boyfriend, Jesse and Betsy has her boyfriend Alex. But me, their leader, I'm alone. There's no one that loves me like that. I can hold it back for the sake of the band and our team, but when I'm not with them, I feel so alone!" Emily hugged herself as a tear rolled down her cheek.

"Oh you poor sweetie!" Candymon squeezed Emily's leg and then went back to walking.

__

That's funny. Where have I heard this before? Joe thought back to his thoughts from earlier today. _That's it! I said the exact same thing! But her, she's felt it so much worse than I have. Her boyfriend that she loved, turning out to be a super villain that she had to defeat. I wish there were something I could so to help her feel better. Wait! I know what I can do! _"I know how you feel Emily" Joe murmured, "I know that I can't feel the way you did when you had to defeat you boyfriend to save the world, but I know how it feels to be alone. Back in the group where we're going, mostly everyone ignores me, or makes fun of me. And to make matters worse, they've all got someone that loves them, and I don't. Tai has Kari and Sora, Matt has his brother TK, and Izzy has Mimi. I'm by myself most of the time, but with Gomamon at least."

"Well you know what Joe? I think that we both should try to be there for each other. From the way you put it though, it seems like all your friends will want to get as much information and help out of me as they can. But I'll make you a deal." Emily put her hand on Joe's shoulder.

"Ok." Joe shrugged.

"I'll promise not to ignore you or forget about you if you promise to stick with me. Deal?"

"Deal" He reached out to shake her hand, but she pulled him to her and kissed him on the cheek.

"Sealed with a kiss" Candymon smiled with Gomamon as they looked at their humans staring at each other. Then Candymon's' ears perked up. "I thought I heard something."

"Joe? Uh, Joe?" Gomamon tugged on Joe's sock. Joe didn't answer; he was lost in Emily's eyes.

"Emily? Sugar?" Candymon pawed at Emily's leg. Emily didn't' answer, she was lost in Joe's smile.

Then, out of no where, a huge pack of Nuemomon came flying at them. Emily screamed and clutched her digivice, guitar, and bag to her.

"Gomamon! Go!" Joe yelled as he grabbed Emily and did his best to help her get away. There was a flash and Gomamon digivolved into Ikkakumon. 

"Harpoon torpedo!" Ikkakumon fired his torpedoes at the nuemomon, but it only made then more excited. 

"Sugar beat!" Candymon threw her paws together and a pile of sugar poured on top of some of the nuemomon. The sugar dissolved and the nuemomon were wrapped up in little candy wrappers in different colors. Then, she heard Emily scream. She turned to see Emily cornered by a pack of nuemomon with Joe trying vainly to fight them off. Then Emily's digivice began to glow and there was a flash. Candymon suddenly digivolved from in-training Candymon to her rookie form, Goobermon. 

Goobermon was like a larger version of Candymon, only her stripes were all different shades of blue, and everything above her waist, except for her arms, neck, and head, was covered in a rich, chocolate coating. "Emily! I'll save you!" Goobermon stood up straight and yelled "Caffeine charge!" A blue flame flew out of her and exploded on the nuemomon, who scattered in fear. The nuemomon who had been caught in Candymon's sugar beat had broken out of their wrappers and were running away. But Ikkakumon leapt out and caught one of them before it could escape.

"Quick! Joe! Hold on to him! I'm losing my energy!" Joe grabbed the struggling nuemomon just before Ikkakumon de-digivolved into Gomamon again.

"Woah! What happened to Gomamon, Joe?" Emily was shaky, and so Joe tried to help her pick up her things, while Goobermon took the nuemomon from him.

"Are you all right Emily?" Goobermon was concerned about her friend.

"Aaaah! What happened to you Candymon?"

"I digivolved to a higher level, Goobermon. But that took a lot of my energy up, so I'll probably de-digivolve, like Gomamon did, in a minute."

"So Gomamon went to a higher level?"

"Yeah. He's called Ikkakumon." Joe motioned to Gomamon who tried to look as fierce as he did when he digivolved.

"Uh oh! Quick! Someone get him!" Joe grabbed the nuemomon from Goobermon, as a light flashed suddenly, turning Goobermon back to Candymon.


	3. 3:Back with them all

Back at the other Digi destined's campfire, everyone lay asleep except for Izzy and Mimi, or so they thought. Tentamon and Palmon crouched behind a rock, watching the two humans whisper to each other.

"Oh Izzy! Why can't we go somewhere to be alone together for a while?"

"Mimi, we can't leave the others. We have to stick together until we can be guaranteed that we're completely safe."

"Well when are we going to know that?"

"I think the one who'll be able to tell us that is Gennai."

"So we couldn't just be completely alone, even for a teeny tiny bit?"

"No. Mimi. We need to stay together."

"Well I guess we'll just have to improvise then won't we?"

"Huh?"

"Mmmm! Come here you!"

"Mimi! Shouldn't we wait until- mph! Hmmmmm... maybe we could improvise just for a little while."

"Hmmmm. And to think my friends told me I should hook up with Matt!"

"They did? Well I'm glad you didn't listen. Mmmm... Uh Mimi?"

"Yes Izzy?"

"Don't you think you should do that when we're alone, instead of out in the woods with everyone else asleep next to us? I mean, I don't think everyone wants to wake up and see you trying to take my shirt off."

"Hmph! You're no fun in the woods!"

Then there was a crash and the cry of "Caffeine charge!" woke up everyone else. 

"It's Candymon!" Yelled Gatomon, "She's digivolved into Goobermon!"

"If my hunch it right," Izzy calculated, "The 9th child doesn't have her crest yet, so she can't digivolve without her digi destined being in trouble. So-"

"Shut up Izzy!" Matt smacked Izzy in the back of the head as he ran by him, "The 9th child is in trouble! We need to help! Not calculate! Garurumon!" There was another flash and Gabumon became Garurumon. Then the air was filled with everyone else calling out the names of their digimon.

"Greymon!"

"Birdramon!"

"Kabuterimon!"

"Togemon!"

Each of the digimon digivolved, except Gatomon and Patomon. Then they all rushed out into the woods, following the shouts. When they arrived, they saw Joe helping Emily shove the nuemomon into his duffel bag, while Gomamon and Candymon were putting Emily's guitar back in it's case. "What happened?" Tai seemed irritated that he had missed out on a fight.

"Forget about that! Are you all right?" Sora shoved Tai out of the way. Then she extended her hand to Emily, "Hi! I'm Sora!"

"I'm Emily! Joe's told me all about you guys!"

"Hi! I'm Kari! I'm the 8th child!" Kari bounded up next to Sora.

"Hi Kari! I'm Emily, the 9th child!" The others gathered around to greet Emily and Joe. As Emily promised, she made sure Joe wasn't left out of the circle. In fact, she made him stay at her side the whole time, "To be around someone she knew."

The other digimon de-digivolved back to their rookie forms and crowded around Candymon and Gomamon to hear what had happened on the way over.

"You should have seen it! They all rushed over and attacked us! Then Joe yelled 'Ikkakumon! Go!' and I digivolved! Then Candymon used her sugar beat and caught a bunch of nuemomon." Gomamon was getting excited.

"Your sugar beat still works pretty good, doesn't it Candymon?" Gatomon asked.

"Oh yeah. Once you've got it, you've go it!" Candymon tried to look cool.

"And then Candymon digivolved into Goobermon!" Gomamon bounced up and down excitedly, "And saved Emily with her caffeine charge!"

"You wanna hear something really cool?" whispered Gomamon and Candymon. The other digimon gathered around, eager to hear.

"I think Joe likes Emily!" Gomamon whispered to Agumon, Tentamon, and Gabumon at the same time that Candymon whispered "I think Emily likes Joe!" to Biyomon, Palmon, and Gatomon.

"How do you know?"

"She kissed him!"

"Oooooooh!"

"Ahem! Speaking of kissing!" All digimon eyes turned to Tentamon.

"Izzy and Mimi were kissing!" Palmon blurted out, "And Mimi tried to take off Izzy's-"

"What about Mimi and Izzy?" Sora joined the circle of digimon and was followed by Kari and TK.

"Oh. Nothing" Palmon blushed.

"The next time Mimi and Izzy want to be alone, they should try harder to find a more secluded area." muttered Tentamon. Sora heard him.

"What do you mean 'be alone?'"

"Well, you know..." Palmom glared at Tentamon for blowing the secret.

"You don't mean-? Izzy and... and Mimi were...? And She tried to...? Oh my god!" Sora laughed nervously.

"Hey guys! What's going on?" It was Mimi.

"Ah! Oh we're just talking. Don't worry. You didn't kiss- I mean miss anything."

"Are you all right Sora? This doesn't sound like you."

"Oh I'm ok." Sora lied, just as Izzy came up behind Mimi. Sora thought she saw their fingers touch longingly, "It's probably from all this sleeping on the shirt- I mean dirt! Bad for my back I guess."

"Ok, but if you start to get all dizzy, let me know ok?" Mimi walked off and Sora breathed out a sigh of relief.

"Sora?"

"What is it TK?"

"Why was Mimi trying to do what Palmon said she did to Izzy?"

"Ummm I think that's something that Matt will tell you about when you're older. Don't worry about it kiddo, ok?"

"Okay!"

"Hey Sora! Come on! We're taking Emily and Candymon back to camp!" Biyomon called as everyone trailed after Tai and Agumon back to where they'd decided to camp.

That night, Tai and Sora couldn't sleep. Tai couldn't sleep because of his excitement of finding the 9th child, but he drifted off eventually. Sora couldn't sleep because she thought she heard something move.

She sat up and looked around. TK was asleep with his head on Matt's lap. Gabumon was asleep on the other side of Matt, keeping him warm with his fur. Patomon was curled up next to TK. Kari was asleep with her head on Tai's shoulder. Gatomon was asleep in her lap. Agumon was curled up in a ball next to Kari. Biyomon was asleep a few feet away from Sora. Joe was asleep over in front of his tree. He had his back against it and his head slumped to one side. Emily was asleep next to Joe, with her head on his shoulder. Gomamon was asleep on Joe's lap and Candymon was asleep on Emily's lap.

But someone was missing. Sora turned to see Palmon and Tentamon crouching behind a rock a few yards away. Sora realized that Izzy and Mimi were the ones who were missing, so she slid over to where Palmon was and joined them. "Hi you guys."

"Shh!" Palmon and Tentamon went back to watching what was happening on the other side of the rock.

The rock was more like a mini-slope that slid down about two feet, then hit solid ground again. Izzy and Mimi sat with their backs to Sora and the other two, taking no notice.

"I wish Gennai would contact us soon," pouted Mimi, "I want to know when we can find a safe place to be together."

"We'll just have to be patient. Besides," Izzy put his hand on Mimi's knee, "We'll be more satisfied if we can hold out until then. I'm under too much stress right now as it is."

"I know," Mimi sighed and lay her head in Izzy's lap, "I just can be impatient sometimes."

"It's ok. Just go to sleep. I'll protect you." Izzy stroked Mimi's hair and then leaned back a little bit and closed his eyes. Mimi sighed and fell asleep.

Sora ducked back down behind the rock she and Palmon and Tentamon were hiding behind. "I can't believe it! I never thought those two would be-"

"Believe it," Tentamon sighed, "After what we've been through, anything's possible."

"I think it's sweet!" Palmon got a romantic look in her eyes, "I like Izzy. I think they make a cute couple."

"Yes, Izzy does have an agreeably personality" Tentamon agreed.

"Well, now that I know the secret of Izzy and Mimi," Sora yawned, "Why don't we all go to sleep now. I'm exhausted."

"I'm going to go and sleep with Mimi," Palmon slide down the slope and made herself comfortable next to Mimi.

"I think I'll join you." Tentamon slid down and curled up next to Izzy.

"Good night you guys," whispered Sora. Then she went back next to Tai and fell asleep.


	4. 4: a GAG story

Then next morning, Joe and Emily were awakened by a shout of "Hey! Lemme out of here!" coming from Joe's duffel bag.

"Oh no! I forgot about the nuemomon!" Joe jumped up and Emily fell over side ways and started to doze-off again. "Emily! This is no time to sleep! We've got a rabid nuemomon in my bag here!"

"Mmm Katie! Leave me alone! I'll get Betsy's house key out of the toilet in a second!"

"Emily!" Joe shook her a little. 

"Rrrr! Just gimme five more minutes! Practice can wait! I haven't even gotten that new cord down!" She swatted at Joe's hand.

"What cord? Aw come on! Just get up!"

"Okay! Okay! Geeze Katie! Gimme a break!"

"Katie? It's me, Joe!"

"Huh?" Emily jolted up and opened her eyes. "Oh Joe! It's you! I thought I was back at home for a second."

"That explains why you called me Katie." Joe rolled his eyes.

"I did? Oh I'm sorry Joe! Katie's the one who usually waked me up. And she always has some kind of problem for me to fix when I do. It's always 'Get up Emily! Betsy just dropped the TV remote into the fish tank! And don't forget we have practice in an hour!' That's why I called you that."

"And that's why you told me you'd get Betsy's house key out of the toilet later?"

"I did? I must've been totally knocked out to have said something like that!" They laughed.

"Hey! Come on! I've got a wife and 20 kids! Get me out of this thing!" Joe turned his attention back to the duffel bag.

"We're going to let you out, but only if you tell us why you attacked us. Deal?"

"No way! I promised I wouldn't say!"

"Ok," Emily shrugged, "I guess we'll just have to leave you here in this bag. I'm sure some nice hungry digimon would be happy to devour you for us. Or maybe Garurumon would like to eat you. I hear being a giant wolf can make you pretty hungry…"

"Ah! No! Let me out! I'll spill! I'll spill everything!"

"Ok. Hold on a second. Guys! Wake up! The nuemomon's gonna spill it!"

"I hope he doesn't spill whatever it is on my shorts. These are the only ones I have!" Joe griped.

Everyone gathered around as Emily slowly opened Joe's bag, then plunged her hand into it and pulled out the nuemomon. She pinned it to the ground and twisted its arm behind its back. "Ok, spill it!"

"Ow! Ok! Ok! I work for the new guy."

"The new guy?"

"Yeah. He showed up one day with a bunch of girls and started throwing these weird balls at us."

"Balls? Like baseballs?" TK smiled.

"I don't think so. They sucked us into them and he only let us out if we promised to help him out. Weird guy too. He kept calling us 'rare Pokemon' and the girls kept cheering for everything he said."

"What's he doing here? What does he want?"

"I don't know!"

"Liar!" Emily twisted his arm farther.

"Ooow! I swear! I don't know!"

"Then take us to him!"

" I can't!"

"You're lying! Take us to him!" Emily twisted its arm harder.

"Ack! I swear I don't know! He had us inside of those weird balls. I think he walked away from where ever his hide-out is, and released us there."

"Ok. Is that all?"

"No! Can you take this sticker off of me? He put it on me and it's so tacky!" He pointed to a blue sticker on his back. Emily tried to pull it off, but the edges were stuck down. She got out her guitar pick and picked at the edges. They peeled up and she managed to pull it off.

"Hmmm. Why does it say GAG on it?" She examined the sticker with curiosity.

"I think I heard him say it stood for "Gary's A God." I think that's the name of his new organization."

"How stupid!" Emily made a face, "This Gary sounds like a totally egotistical jerk! If I ever see him, I think I'm gonna gag!"

"Believe me, he is! I have a crick in my neck from being shoved into those stupid balls."

"Did you try to get out of them?" Izzy was rapidly typing in the information from the nuemomon.

"What do you think? Of course I did! The only digimon I saw escape were the one's who could digivolve. They broke out of those things like they were nothing."

"Good, so that means he won't be able to catch any of our digimon."

"But what about Candymon, Izzy?" Emily held Candymon to her protectively, "You told me that she can't digivolve on her own until I find my crest or unless I'm in trouble."

"Hmmm, that is a problem. Our best bet is to try to find your crest before we confront this Gary."

"Great," Emily turned back to the nuemomon, "Is there anything else you can tell us?"

"Not that I know of."

"Ok. Sorry we had to keep you crammed in that bag like that. You can go now."

"Thanks." The nuemomon hopped up and started to walk away, then turned and said, "I hope you beat this guy. I don't think he's just catching nuemomon!"

"Great," groaned Candymon, "Now I think I'm really going to gag."


	5. 5: Tk's music

"I'm tired," Emily whispered to Joe, "Do we have to do this everyday?"

The group was hiking through the woods, looking for Emily's crest and for some sign of Gary, the mysterious new bad guy.

"Yes," groaned Joe, "And if they hear you complaining, they'll only tell you to shut up. If you want to rest, your best bet is to wait until TK or Kari starts to complain. Tai and Matt would stop the world for them if they had to."

"Great," Emily muttered, "How often do they do that?"

"About every two and a half hours. Kari and TK try to be as tough as Tai and Matt, so they don't complain easily." 

"Just my luck to have the Wannabe Cool club in front of me." Emily moved her guitar case from her left hand to her right.

"Do you take that thing everywhere with you?" Joe eyed Emily's guitar.

"Well, not everywhere, but I like to be ready for a spur of the moment jam session," Emily shook her guitar case a little bit, "I had this thing when I found my digivice. I was on my way to meet the girls for a jam session at Heighten View Terrace and-" Emily bumped into Joe who had abruptly stopped with everyone else at the mention of Emily's original destination.

"Did you just say Heighten View Terrace?" Joe asked slowly.

"Yeah. That's where the girls and me live. We were off on tour for a month, and when we came back, everything was a mess! People kept saying that there had been monsters and stuff, and a bunch of people kept saying that it was all connected to that terrorist bombing along time ago. Why do you ask?"

"We all used to live there," Sora looked around as everyone else nodded.

"I still do. I've lived there since I was two. Then I quit school to be a rock star. I still take some classes when I have time, but other than that, I'm all about music."

"I can remember you playing you guitar for me," All eyes turned to TK.

"Yeah, I do too. Do you still remember the words to that song you helped me write?"

"Yeah! I sing it all the time!"

"Wait a second!" Matt interrupted. He looked at TK, "When did you help her write a song? And when did she play her guitar for you?"

"I used to baby-sit for TK," Emily pushed a strand of hair out of her face, "And I used to play my guitar for him so that' he'd take his nap."

"And then there was that one time you came over and I couldn't sleep because the next day was Matt's birthday and I couldn't think of a present for him. So you said I could help you write a song about him and then I could sing it for him!" TK was getting excited.

"But TK, I don't remember you singing to me for my birthday, ever!" Matt was puzzled.

"That's because I never sang it for you. I was too afraid." TK looked nervously at Emily; "I'm sorry Emily."

"Why?" Emily knelt down and looked at TK

"Because I told you that I sang it, and that Matt loved it, and I was lying."

"Oh TK! I knew you didn't' sing it! I asked your mom and she said you didn't even mention it."

"She did?"

"Uh huh."

"Y'know TK," Matt said slowly, "One of these days, I'd like to hear what you wrote for me." He took TK's hand.

"Gee Matt. I don't know if you'd like it!"

"I think we should let Matt be the judge of that," Emily opened up her guitar case and pulled out a smooth, chess nut brown guitar and a blue pick. Then she sat down on her guitar case. "Ok TK, you got the words in your head?"

"You want me to sing it now? Right here?" TK's ears turned red.

"Don't worry TK. After you sing, then Joe's going to sing for us."

"What?" Joe's eyes practically bugged out of his head. "I can't sing! And even if I could, what would I sing?"

"How about that song you sang for the gekomon? Or should I say, fragment of a song?"

"But- but!"

"No butts! They'll give you lung cancer! Ready TK?"

"I guess so. I hope you like this Matt. I wrote it, or helped write it-"

"Let's just say you wrote it."

"Ok. I wrote it just for you." He cleared his throat and Emily began to strum the familiar notes. TK listened to the rhythm for a couple of seconds, then caught on and started singing:

__

What I wouldn't give to see you smile

Brother

What I would do to make you laugh

I'd walk a thousand miles

I'll always remember all the times you've helped me

You're my brother, the only one I need

I wouldn't trade you for gold or silver

I wouldn't trade you for diamonds

You don't know what I'd sacrifice, just to make you smile.

Brother

I'd walk a thousand miles

You're always there to help me.

You're my brother, the only one I need.

Emily finished up his song with a quick rift, playing the last stroke slowly so that all the notes could be heard. There was silence for a second and eyes jumped from Matt to TK. Matt had tears in his eyes and TK looked like he was going to burst out in tears himself.

Matt broke the silence by kneeling down and holding out his arms, "TK, that was the most beautiful song any one's ever wrote for me. Thank you." TK ran to Matt and hugged him.

"I love you Matt," he cried.

"I know. And I love you too." He held TK for a minute, then stood up and faced Emily. "Thank you for helping my brother with his present."

"Hey, no problem," They shook hands. "And just a reminder to you all," She turned to the sniffling Tai, Sora, Mimi, Joe, Izzy, Kari, Agumon, Biyomon, Palmon, Gomamon, Tentamon, Gatomon, Patomon, Gabumon, and Candymon. "I'm also available for weddings and Barmitzvahs."

Everyone giggled as Emily put her guitar back in its case. Joe gave a sigh of relief as he helped Gomamon get back on his shoulder. "Hold on a second Joe! I promised TK you'd sing for us. No Buts!"

"Aw! Do I have to?" Gomamon giggled as Joe threw his arms up in dismay. 

"Gomamon will help you with the words if you get stuck. After all, he taught Candymon and I how to do the Taxi Dance, didn't he?" Izzy turned red as everyone else who had been present for the Taxi Dance tittered.

"You had to tell her about that didn't you Gomamon?" growled Joe.

"You'd better get singing Joe. You don't want her to get mad. YOU saw what she did to the nuemomon!"

Joe winced at the thought of his arm being twisted behind his back and then cleared his throat.

"One! Two! Three!" yelled Agumon, as he and Gomamon began to do background music.

Joe sighed and prayed that his face wasn't turning the color of a fire engine.

"I'm attempting to sing a song! A song that will awaken you and aid all the Gekomon that are loyal to your world view and the idea of you being in charge!" He stopped and took a deep breath, "I'm attempting to sing a song! A song that will awaken you and aid all the gekomon!"

Agumon shoved him out of the way and took over, " I dreamt a song to you! A tune from now until June! When you hear us sing you'll call us singing buffoons!"

Tai and Gomamon joined in; " We just wanna wake ya! So don't close your ears! Or you can sleep for years!"

Everyone cheered. "Hey! Can I try?" Mimi stepped forward.

"Sorry Mimi, but you weren't part of the bargain."

"Oh. Darn it! And I felt like singing too!"


	6. 6: A chitchat with Gennai

"Ugh! What I wouldn't give for a shower!" Emily pulled off her metallic blue vest and shook it out. "Joe, how did you get through all this?"

Joe looked up from his glasses that he had been cleaning. "Lots of antibiotics."

"Ah!" Emily left Joe to his cleaning and sauntered over to Izzy, working furiously on his laptop. "Hey Izzy! Let me ask you something."

"Ok."

"How long have you had that laptop?"

"About two years. Why?"

"Just wondering. Do you have Net access?"

"Are you kidding? Of course I do!"

"Cool! Can I check my e-mail?"

"I guess so. Do you know how?"

"Oh yeah. I have one of these back at the apartment. I just hope Betsy hasn't spilled coffee or anything on it." Emily typed almost as fast as Izzy did.

"Who's Betsy?" Emily hadn't told any one in the group, except Joe, about her band's super powers.

"One of my room mates. She can be kind of care less at times. She has this knack for spilling coffee, dropping keys and TV remotes, and cutting important wires." Her deep brown eyes flashed as she remembered her friends back home.

"I guess I should be glad that she didn't become a Digi destined." Izzy chuckled

"From what Joe tells me, there's no chance she could have become one. She was nowhere near Heighten View Terrence when the attack happened. She was on vacation. Hmph!" She glared at her inbox, "Fine time for Katie to be e-mailing me! Can't she even let me save the world with out nagging me?"

Emily was about to hit 'respond', when a window popped up that said 'You are receiving an instant message from A FRIEND. Would you like to respond?' "Uh, Izzy? Do you want this?"

"What is it?" he looked at the screen and smiled, "There's only one person who could know that I'm online right now!" He hit 'Ok' and then typed in 'Hello Gennai!'

"Gennai? The one who lives in the lake?" Emily looked puzzled. "How does he get electricity in there?"

"Hold on a second Emily!" Izzy took the laptop from Emily and looked at the screen:

A FRIEND: Izzy my boy! How are you doing out there?

IZZY: Pretty good. I received you previous e-mail.

A FRIEND: Good. You've met up with her I suppose?

IZZY: Yes. And her digimon, Candymon.

A FRIEND: How is she holding out with the others?

IZZY: Holding out? What do you mean?

A FRIEND: I reviewed her past experiences with her band GQ. She has a tendency to like to take charge. How is she reacting to the other Digi destined?

IZZY: Well, Tai's been fascinated with her ever since she pinned a nuemomon to the ground and made him spill some information vital to who we're up against now.

A FRIEND: Yes, I thought Tai might like her attitude.

IZZY: I think she's annoyed by Tai's "go get 'em" attitude.

A FRIEND: It's because she hates being in charge. She hates it so much that she always ends up as a leader. Tai's willingness to lead irritates her.

IZZY: Matt never really talked to her until he found out that she used to baby-sit for TK and that she helped TK write a song for him when he was 4. Now he's always talking to her or getting TK to talk to her for him.

A FRIEND: The way to Matt's heart is through his brother. 

IZZY: I'm not sure what Emily thinks of him though, but I suspect that she only likes him as a friend

A FRIEND: Go on...

IZZY: Sora and Emily both like to be around each other. If she's not talking to Matt, Joe, or me she's talking to Sora.

A FRIEND: According to what I've researched, Sora's sisterly relationship with everyone is like the sister Emily never had. Also, Sora reminds her of her friend Katie.

IZZY: Kari tends to avoid Emily, though I don't know why. And Emily, usually, just ignores her. TK on the other hand, loves Emily. He follows her all the time. Emily treats him the same way Matt does; like a brother.

A FRIEND: Kari is still new to being a digi destined. Give her some time. Remember that she was used to being "THE 8th child" and now everything's gone to "THE 9th child." As for TK, Emily adores kids like him, because of his innocence. But she can't stand babies. I think Kari's attitude shift has made her avoid Kari because of her resemblance to a two-year-old.

IZZY: As for me, she fascinates me. There's something mysterious about her; almost like she's human, but she's not.

A FRIEND: Yes, there are some mysterious things to her. But she will have to tell you these things on her own. And tell me something Izzy?

IZZY: Yes?

A FRIEND: Why haven't you mentioned Joe?

IZZY: Goodness! I forgot! I don't quite know what she thinks of Joe, though I do know that Joe probably likes her. We sent him with Candymon to go get her the day after she arrived. 

A FRIEND: And how does she treat Joe?

IZZY: Well, one minute she'll be talking to one of us, and then he'll come by and she'll blush and walk away. She's around him more than any one else, and when she's not near him, he goes off to find her. I'm not quite sure what to think Gennai.

A FRIEND: Leave them to themselves Izzy. What ever happens with them will happen. Now it's you and Mimi that I'm concerned about.

IZZY: Me? And Mimi?

A FRIEND: Yes, I know all about you two. I'm just warning you that, if you don't tell the others soon, bad things could happen. They might loose their respect for you if you keep it a secret too long.

IZZY: I see what you mean. I'll think about that Gennai. I'm going to have to coax Mimi into consenting, but I think it's possible.

A FRIEND: Good. Oh, and Izzy?

IZZY: Yes?

A FRIEND: Put Emily on.

IZZY: Ok, but I need to ask you something first Gennai

A FRIEND: What is it Izzy?

IZZY: Is there any safe place that we can stay at for a while to rest? I know I speak for the others when I say that being in the woods and sleeping on the ground is starting to become painful.

A FRIEND: Of course! About 2 miles North of where you are, there's a hotel run by an old friend of ours, Leomon. I'm sure that he'll be glad to let you nine stay there. After I finish with Emily, I'll contact him and let him know you're coming.

IZZY: Thank you Gennai. I'll get Emily.

IZZY: Hello?

A FRIEND: Emily! How nice to meet the 9th child at last! I am Gennai, a friend of the Digi destined's.

IZZY: Yeah, they've told me a lot about you.

A FRIEND: Now, Emily, I have to ask you something that is very important.

IZZY: Ok. Shoot.

A FRIEND: Have you told any one about your powers and your ability to change into Gold Card?

IZZY: Only Joe. Why? Is that bad?

A FRIEND: Oh no. I was just going to warn you that, if word got out to your enemy Gary that you could do things like that, the danger you're in would be increased.

IZZY: What do you mean, the danger I'm already in?

A FRIEND: Queen Laurence knows you're here. She had Biff and Sully transport her here to have me tell you this-

IZZY: Laurence? She's here?

A FRIEND: Not any more. She left yesterday. And even if she were here, she wouldn't be able to talk to you, because Izzy didn't use his computer at all yesterday or the day before. But she left you this message-

IZZY: shoot! I'm all ears.

A FRIEND: She says that her planet is in danger. Someone's stolen the Guardians of the Universe from her throne room and left the calling card GAG. She says, without their force, the planet if falling apart. She also said that your other two friends can't transform anymore, because, whoever has then Guardians, has them surrounded by a force field. There fore, you can't transform either. I'm sorry Emily.

IZZY: Don't worry Gennai. I've dealt with worse. You forget that saving the world was my job already, before you brought me here.

A FRIEND: Yes, how could I forget. Oh, I forgot to mention, Queen Laurence will be notified if you can get the force field down. She will have Biff and Sully beam the Guardians up as soon as she gets word. Now I have to go.

IZZY: It was nice talking to you Gennai. Good bye!

A FRIEND: Good bye!

---Connection closed---

"I don't believe this jerk Gary! First he terrorizes the Digiworld, and now he steals the Guardians! What kind of freak is he?" Emily slammed Izzy's laptop shut and stormed away angrily. "The Guardians. How could he take the Guardians?" Emily kept muttering to herself. Then she felt a tear roll down her cheek.

"Emily, are you all right?" It was Joe. She turned away and ran. She couldn't let him see her cry. She was Gold Card! Leader of GQ! Bearer of the spirit of Godiva, the leader of the Guardians of the universe! She wasn't supposed to cry! She was supposed to fight back! Be a guardian of truth, peace and love! But then, that's what Godiva was, and now her body had been stolen. Her thoughts drifted back to when she first met Queen Laurence. The part of her story that she hadn't told Joe.

Emily and her friends had been taking a break from their first shot at fighting crime, when a flash had filled the room and a beautiful woman appeared. She had looked at them with joy in her eyes and cried "Greetings Godiva! Greetings Madova! Greetings Catalina! Queen Laurence salutes you." 

"I knew you existed," Katie had said, "I saw you in my dreams. You're why we are the way we are!"

"Yes. And I bring you the truth. I am from the planet Orgisian. You are its defenders, or their spirits anyway."

"Their spirits?"

"Yes, the original Guardians of the Universe. They were all-powerful and bore the galactic symbol that I wear. One could turn sound into her weapon; one could control her hair's snake-like demons; and the leader could turn thin objects into solid spikes as her weapon. Their names were Catalina, Godiva, and Modova.

"They guarded the universe with strength and unity. Then, one day, a stranger came. He began to enchant the Guardians leader, Godiva, and she fell in love with him. But little did she know his dark secret!

"The night before their wedding, he imprisoned the Guardians as they slept. He suspended them in time. No one can undo his work, and now they stand, never to be awakened, in the palace. But, apparently, their souls sent them selves to Earth in their current form."

"And we read them!" Katie had been so excited at learning the truth.

"Yes, and when you read them, the royal symbol that each Guardian wore disappeared, so we knew someone else had the powers. I sent Biff and Sully over to protect you until I could come, but it seems you've gotten control of your powers rather easily."

Emily shook the image out of her mind. What was she going to do now that she couldn't transform? What would Joe think, especially after her sob story about Greg and her decision. He'd think she was a liar and a fraud. And he would think Gennai was a liar. She couldn't let that happen. She didn't want Gennai hurt, the same way she didn't want Queen Laurence hurt. Desperately, she dug into her pockets and pulled out her transformation card. 

She held it out in the air and yelled out "Star Wars!" She felt the card surge as if it was going to fill her with her strength and power, then stop dead. The glow that went along with it died. "No! No! No!" She threw her card to the dirt and began to cry. _*Godiva* _Emily looked up, "Laurence?" _* Godiva, the one you call Gennai has told me about your distress of the Guardians being taken* _Emily heard Queen Laurence, but couldn't see her. Emily decided that Laurence must be talking to her telepathically. 

__

* Godiva?* "Laurence, I can't believe they took them. Without their power flowing openly from your planet, I can't transform. I feel so powerless! How can I help these people save this world when I don't have the powers I used to save my own?" _* Godiva, do you remember how you were before you found the cards? Before you had the responsibility of saving your world from evil? Do you remember how you were?* _"Yes. I was a sleazy guitar player in a street corner band called "Gimme Quarters." 

__

* Don't say that. Think of how you were when you weren't doing things in the band. Think about how you were when you were just plain Godi- I mean, Emily going to the movies with your friends.* "I was happy. And free. I could do almost any thing I wanted, as long as I had my friends around." _* Will these people you call the Digi destined make poor substitutes for friends?* _"No. Because some of them are my friends. I like them a lot. And one of them, I think I love" _* Then, as of now, you are no longer Godiva! You are once again Emily! You have no powers and are surrounded by your friends. With out your powers, you can still do anything!* _"Laurence?" * Yes, Emily?* "After I save this world, how long can I stay plain old Emily? Can I take some time off?" _* Emily, you have always had the power NOT to transform into Gold Card. Who am I to stop you? But promise me one thing. Never get rid of your card. It is the key to everything. To your powers, to your friends powers, to my world's powers.* _

"I promise. Oh, and Laurence. Before you go-" _* Yes Emily?* _"Thanks!" _* My love goes with you and Godiva, Emily. Enjoy your freedom.*_


	7. 7: The hotel

"What do you mean you don't know where she is?" Joe shook Izzy, then dropped him and began to frantically look around.

"Joe, I'm telling you, you should just stay calm. She'll show back up. I just think whatever Gennai told her online upset her a little bit, that's all." Izzy followed Joe, desperately trying to comfort him.

"A little upset? A little? Izzy, first I hear her rant about that creep Gary, then when I ask her if she's ok, she runs away crying. Oh yeah! That just makes her a little upset!" Joe's glasses flashed as the light hit then, and Izzy could almost see himself in the reflection.

"Joe, you're over reacting!"

"No I'm not!" Joe stomped his foot down on the ground insistently.

"Uh, excuse me!" Izzy and Joe looked down to see Candymon. "I know where Emily is."

"You do?" Joe scooped up Candymon and shook her, "Where!? Tell me where!"

"Put me down! Sugar beat!" A pile of sugar came pouring down on Joe and Candymon and evaporated reveal Joe stuck inside one of Candymon's candy wrappers.

"Ah! Let me out! I'm not a candy! I'm not even high in sugar!"

"Joe, I won't let you out or tell you where Emily is until you promise to calm down and not shake me like that again."

"I promise."

"Do you mean it? Cause if you're lying..."

"Just let me out!!!"

"Ok! Ok! Sheesh! Hiiiii-ya!" Candymon ripped her claws through the wrapper so that it was nothing but a pile of shreds.

"Where is she????" Joe jumped up and then dropped down on his knees. "Pleeeeease tell me! Please! Please! Oh please!"

"Sigh! She's right over there you digi-dork!" Candymon pointed to Emily who was walking happily up to them.

"Hey you guys! What's going on?" Joe thought Emily's smile could have lit up the whole forest.

"Oh, same old, same old. Joe spazzed out because we couldn't find you. Candymon had to sugar beat him, so he'd calm down.." Izzy tried to sound casual.

"Oh! Joe I'm sorry I ran away from you! It's just, I've found out something that I had hoped would never happen. Izzy. When's the most likely time that the whole group would actually sit together and listen to me talk?"

"Well, they tend to sit together when they eat- at a table that is."

"Great. You don't think they'd settle for a bonfire do you?"

"Actually, me may be eating at a table tonight. Gennai says that there's a hotel about two miles North from here that we can stay at. He says that it's run by Leomon."

"Woah! Hold up!" Tai, who had just happened to be walking by, stopped in his tracks. "Did you just say Leomon? King of all Digimon?"

"I believe it's the same one."

"What's he doing with a hotel?"

"Who cares," gushed Joe. "As long as he's not possessed by black gears, and doesn't make us work in the kitchen, I'll be fine!"

"Actually Joe, we may have to work a little so pay him for our stay. How long should we stay Tai?"

"Three days." The three boys turned to look at Emily. "Guys, go with me on this. I've got a gut feeling that we should stay three days. I can't explain why, but I think we should."

"Three days it is then!" Tai turned and ran over to everyone else. "Guys! Get your stuff! We're heading two miles North! There's a hotel!"

"A hotel?" Mimi's head jerked up. "Come on Palmon! Let's go!"

"Should we knock or just barge in?" Sora giggled as they stood at the door to the massive "Digimon Hotel". Joe thought it bore a slight similarity to the mansion that hey had all stayed along time ago. It had turned out to be nothing but an illusion put there by Devimon, including the food.

But the Digimon Hotel was much larger than that. Each room had a balcony and French doors leading out to them. The plants around the entrance were blooming with gorgeous lilies and other exotic flowers. Joe thought he could hear a waterfall in the back if the hotel.

"I'm going in!" announced Emily as she and Candymon pushed the extremely large rotating door.

"I'll come with you!" Tai ran in with them before the door shut, Agumon close behind.. "I know Leomon. He's helped us before. Just let me do the talking!"

"Yeah, yeah. Whatever!" Emily rolled her eyes. They walked up to the front desk and rang the bell.

"Tai! I've been expecting you! Gennai told me you were coming." Emily turned to see the speaker. It was a gigantic lion who had, obviously, been working out.

"It's good to see you again Leomon!" Tai shook hands with him. Then he motioned to Emily, "May I present to you, the 9th child."

"Ah, yes! Gennai told me about her too! And bout your sister Kari," Leomon shook Emily's hand. "So where are the rest of the Digi destined?"

"Out side," Emily pointed her finger to the door. "They sent us in to make the reservations."

"They've already been made for you. Gennai has everything set up for you. How long would you like to stay?" He took out a guest book the size of Emily's guitar case and opened it up.

"Three days." Tai signed his name in the space provided. "Emily?"

"Yeah?"

"Can you go get the others in here so we can find out where our rooms are?"

"Sure. Candymon, you stay here and help Tai." Emily sauntered outside.

"Uh, ok." Candymon was having too much fun poking Agumon with the free toothpicks to really have heard what she said.

"Ok you guys! Listen up!" Emily hollered. Everyone stopped talking and looked to Emily. "Gennai has everything all set up for us in here. We all need to go into the lobby and Leomon will tell us where our rooms are!"

Everyone went back to talking as they trooped into the hotel. "What's it look like in there?" Joe slid up beside Emily.

"See for yourself." She pushed Joe into the lobby and heard him gasp. "Well, what do you think?" She went and stood beside him.

"It's- it's amazing!" The ceiling was a collection of paintings of all the different digimon. "Look!" He pointed to one of the corners. "There's Gomamon!"

"And Candymon!" Emily hadn't noticed the ceiling when she'd walked in the first time. She and Joe stood looking up as they turned in slow circles.

"Excuse me," The voice of Leomon boomed out from over next to a circle of couches. He stood in the middle. "If you'd all be seated. I'll tell you where your rooms are. You have access to all of our facilities; The pool, the garden, room service, ect. "He dug around in his pocket and then pulled our some keys and a list. Everyone leaned forward to hear where they would end up. "By request of Gennai; Matt, Tai, and TK will be staying in room D25, on the fourth floor. Sora, and Kari will be in room B13 on the second floor. Izzy and Mimi, you'll have room C11 on the third floor; and Emily and Joe, you'll have room E07 on the fifth floor. As for your digimon- "

"Hey! Hold on a second!" Matt jumped up, "How come Izzy and Mimi are staying in the same room? And the same thing with Joe and Emily?"

"I'm just following Gennai's request. He made this list himself, and it specifically says 'Please put the following people in a room together: Tai, Matt and TK; Sora and Kari; Izzy and Mimi; Joe and Emily.' I'm just going by what he says." 

"I think it doesn't make sense." Matt grumbled, and slid down in his seat.

"So, as I was saying, the digimon will be staying in their own digi-suites attached to your rooms. So, Agumon, Gabumon, and Patomon, you have room D42; Biyomon and Gatomon, room B12; Tentamon and Palmon, room C10; Candymon and Gomamon, room E06. Here are your keys." He passed out the keys to the Digi destined and their digimon. "Enjoy your stay at the Digimon Hotel!"

"Oh my Gawd!" Emily's jaw dropped as she looked at the room she and Joe were supposed to stay in. "I thought he said 'room' not 'suite!'" There were two king sized beds, a couch, a fireplace, a bathroom with an indoor spa, and (much to Emily's dismay) no TV,

"Well," Joe sat down on the couch," At least here's a phone! Hello? Tai? This is Joe. Yes I'm sure. Very funny Tai. I don't sound like Emily! Look! I just called to see if your room's as big as ours. Uh huh. Uh huh. Uh huuuuh. Really? Wow! I'm gonna have to see that! Ok. See you at the pool maybe. Bye!" He hung up the phone. "Tai said to look at the digi-suite that Candymon and Gomamon are staying in."

He and Emily walked over to the door that separated their room from their digimon's. Emily knocked on the door and then yelled "Candy? Gomamon? It's Emily and Joe! Can we come in?"

"Hold on a second Emily! I'm coming!" There was a splashing sound, and then a very wet looking Candymon opened the door. 

"Dude! What happened to you?" Emily walked in with Joe and nearly fell into a huge swimming pool. "Aaah! Hey! No fair! You have a pool in here?"

Gomamon swam happily up to Joe, "Pretty cool, eh?" He grinned.

"Just don't tell the others how big your pool is or else they'll want to have a pool party in here!" Joe looked around for some place dry to sit. "Where are you going to sleep? In the water?"

"Push that button right there!" Gomamon hopped out of the water as Joe pushed a red button sticking out of the wall. There was a whirring sound as one of the walls lowered itself down over half the pool. There was a mountain of towels on it, a low bed, and a more towels.

"Nice!" Emily looked around, impressed.

"Tai told me that Agumon's suite is fire proof and has fruit bar." Joe announced

"Hmm. Well I don't know about you, but I'm going out to the pool. Wait a second! I don't even have my bikini with me!" Emily exclaimed.

Joe blushed at this and said ,"Why don't you buy one at the store down near the lobby?"

"Good idea! Do you wanna come Candy?"

"Sure!"

"Come on Joe!"

"But I don't like shopping! Help!"

Joe looked out at the pool. His hunch was right. "Are you sure you want to go to the pool Emily?" Candymon noticed it too, and giggled.

"Of course I'm sure! Why?"

"Well, do you remember when I said that everyone else probably didn't have swim gear either?"

"Yeeeaaaah. So?" She pushed past Joe and walked outside to the pool. She saw Sora and laughed. "I was wondering who took the other one!"

Sora looked up "Huh? Oh!" She laughed. Emily and Sora were wearing the exact same bikini; a black one with a silver lightning bolt across the top. Mimi was sporting her usual pink. Kari had on a navy blue swimsuit with a paw print in the middle

"Hey! Joe! I like you trunks!" called out Tai from the diving board.

"Huh?" Joe looked up to see that Tai was wearing the exact same thing he was, royal blue swim trunks. He also noticed that TK and Matt were matching too, but he guessed that that was TK's decision.

Candymon looked around, "Where are all the other digimon?"

"Over at your room. I heard Gomamon's throwing a party in there." 

"Then that's where I'm going!" Candymon waved a paw to Emily, then went back in to the hotel.

Matt took off his sunglasses and looked Emily, "How does it feel to be twins with Sora?" 

"I haven't had an identity crisis, so I guess I'm ok." Emily slid into the pool, "Oh my gawd this pool's just right! Come on Joe!"

"I don't know! I'm more of a hot tub person. Maybe I'll just go back to the room and - Hey! Aaaaaaaaah!" Kari pushed Joe into the pool. He landed with a large splash. "Ah! My eyes! I can't see! I knew I was allergic to chlorine!" 

"You can't see because your glasses flew of when you fell in! Sheesh!" Emily dove down to the bottom of the pool and got Joe's glasses for him. "Here!" She put them on for him and smoothed his bangs out of his face. 

"Thanks." He smiled, "Hey! Where's Izzy?"

"On the Internet," Mimi tried to hide her disappointment. Everyone looked up at the window of Mimi and Izzy's room. Izzy sat there, typing, as usual, on his laptop.

Emily got a mental image of Izzy on the "ty Beanie Baby Homepage" going "Yes! They've just came out with a new one for my collection!" She snickered.

"What's so funny?" Tai swam up beside Emily.

"Oh, nothing." She dove back down into the water and looked for her prey. She spotted Joe standing in the shallow end of the pool, begin attacked by Kari and TK, who were splashing him, much to his protesting. She went a little lower in the water and swam up behind him.

"Hey! You two! Stop it! I don't like chlorine! Phhft!" He spit out some water splashed into his mouth by TK. "Come on you guys! Matt! Tai! Can't you control your- Ah! There's monsters in here! And one's got me!!!!! Aaaaaaah! Get it off!" Emily laughed underwater, then tightened her grip on Joe's waist. "It's trying to suffocate me! Help!" Joe started to hyper-ventilate. This was Emily's cue to show herself. She popped up to the surface and clamped her around Joe's mouth so that he'd stop. She waited until she could feel his breathing slow down, then let go of him and dove back under.

Joe turned around to see who had grabbed him. When he did, Emily swam around to his front and popped back up. She threw her arms around his neck and wrapped her legs around his waist. "Huh?" Joe turned his head to face Emily.

"Caught you!" Emily whispered and then smiled.

"Yeah, you caught me," Joe looked into her eyes and smiled back. Then he pushed her wet hair back behind her and smoothed her bangs to the side. "You're all wet."

"So are you." Emily tightened her grip around Joe's waist and pushed his glasses up his nose for him. Then, TK ran and did a cannon ball into the pool. The force caught them both off balance. Joe fell backwards, and Emily jumped back.

"TK!" Joe sputtered.

"Sorry Joe! Sorry Emily!" TK tried not to giggle.

"It's ok, TK. I was going to get out anyway. I think I might go check on Izzy and crash Gomamon's party for a while. Do you want to come Kari?" Kari was startled by this sudden gesture, but managed to nod her head, yes. "Ok, let's go. I'll see you guys later!"

"Oh! Emily!" called Tai.

"Yo!"

"We're all meeting around 5:00 in the dining room to eat, ok?"

"Ok. We'll be there!"

Emily and Kari walked through the lobby to the elevator. They were about to get on, when Leomon saw them. "Oh! Emily! I almost forgot, Gennai asked me to give this to you." He pulled out a tag and handed it to her.

"Huh? What's this?" Emily looked at her tag as Leomon walked away.

"It's your tag," explained Kari, as they walked in to the elevator, "It's for your crest, when you find it. I think it starts to glow when your near it."

"All right! And when I get my crest, Candymon cal digivolve on her own?"

"Yup."

"Oh! Guys! Wait for me!" They held the door as Sora rushed into the elevator. "I couldn't resist seeing what goes on at a digimon party!" She laughed.

First, they stopped at Izzy's room. "Izzy?" Emily knocked on the door.

"Yes?"

"It's me, Emily. I just thought I'd check up on you since you weren't at the pool with the others."

"I'm fine, really. I'm just checking something on my laptop, that's all."

"Ok. See you later!"

"Izzy?" Sora walked up to the door.

"What is it Sora?"

"Mimi asked me to give this to you." She slid a piece of paper under the door. "Bye!"

Izzy walked over to the door and picked up the note. It said "I hope you're de-stressing yourself. I miss you out here. I'm lonely. Come keep me company before we have dinner at 5:00. Love, Mimi."

Izzy sighed and turned off his laptop. Maybe he was spending a little too much time on his computer. They only had three days to relax. He should at least enjoy them with Mimi.

"Hey! Before we go to the party. Let's go in the spa!" Emily suggested, unlocking the door to her room. 

"Ok! Sounds good to me!" Sora exclaimed while Kari nodded eagerly.

The three girls took off their wet swim wear and put them on the side. Then they got in to the warm water. "Hmmmm. I haven't been a good one of these since we were on tour in New York!" Emily sighed.

"I haven't been in one of these since we were at that mansion that Devimon made!" Sora shivered in remembering, despite the temperature of the water.

"Tai told me about that!" Kari joined in, "He said that everyone ate lot and then it all turned out to be fake, and the digimon couldn't digivolve. And everyone was asleep and then Devimon showed up and split them all up so that they wouldn't be able to find each other."

"That's how Joe tells it." Emily confirmed Kari's story and Sora's.

"Tai says, " Kari continued, "That the guys take off all their clothes when they get in here too. And he says Matt has a really small- "

"Uh, that's ok Kari. I don't think we need to know." Sora cut in.

"So Sora," Emily jumped to a new topic, "You saw what everyone sleeps in when you stayed at that mansion, didn't you?"

"Uh huh," Sora giggled.

"Oh! Tell us what they sleep in!" Kari cried.

"Well, Tai sleeps in-"

"I already know that! I live with him! Sometimes he sleeps in his speedo underwear, and sometimes, he sleeps in his blue, train pajamas!"

"Train pajamas?" Emily arched an eye brow.

"Uh huh."

"Wow! Ok Sora, go on."

"Ok, well, Izzy sleeps in yellow briefs. I think they might even have a little orange sun on them." Emily guffawed. "TK sleeps in powder blue boxer-briefs," Kari tittered, "Joe sleeps in light blue boxers, and Mat sleeps- "She stopped and giggled.

"Matt sleeps...?" Emily waited for a second. Still laughing, Sora pointed to herself, then to the water, then to her clothes over on the side. "Oh my gawd! Mat sleeps naked!!!!!!" Emily, Kari, and Sora screeched with laughter.

"Ma- Matt sleeps na- na-naked!" Sora stuttered, and all three girls died laughing again.

Ten minutes later, after they had managed to calm down, Sora said, "Let's go to the party now."

"Ok!" She and Kari got out. "Are you coming Emily?"

"Yeah. In a second. You two go ahead. Just knock on that door out there and say that I sent you. Candymon should let you in."

"Ok, see you there!" Sora and Kari put on their swim suits again and Emily heard Sora being let into to the digi-suite.

Emily smiled. She liked Sora and Kari. Dora reminded her of Katie, in a sporty kind of way. And Kari, well, Kari could be funny, but usually when she didn't know it. She remembered what Kari had said earlier, "Tai has train pajamas!" Emily snickered and sighed. God, that was funny! She stood up and looked around for her bikini, humming to herself.

Around the time that Sora, Emily and Kari had been laughing about what all the guys slept in, Joe had gotten tired of TK splashing water on him. "Ick! Stop doing that TK! That's it! I'm outa here!" Joe got out of the pool and grabbed a towel.

"Going so soon, Joe?" Izzy looked up. He had joined them five minutes ago, and was sitting with Mimi.

"Yeah. I'm going back to the room." Joe rubbed the towel over his dripping hair, and then hung the towel around his neck. "See ya at 5:00."

He walked into the elevator pushed up his glasses. To his irritation, he left a finger print on them. He took them off, and cleaned them with his towel. The elevator stopped at his floor and he got off. Geeze. It's cold now that I'm out of the pool. I think I'll get in the spa for a while. 

Joe unlocked the door to the hotel room and stepped inside. He could almost feel the warmth of the spa already. He took off his swimming trunks and tied his towel around his waist. Then he started to open the door to the spa. "Now where did I leave my bikini?" Joe froze. "Oh! There it is!" Joe's heart raced as he opened the door a little wider. "Geeze! I wonder how it got all the way over- Eeeeeeeeeeeeek!!!!!!!!!!!! Joe!!!!!"

"Oh no!" Joe turned magenta and slammed the door. Had he just seen what he thought he saw? Emily, standing in the spa with only a towel on, starting to put on a bikini? _Well, so much for my virgin eyes. I guess I should just be glad I didn't see more than I did. Or even worse, I could have dropped my-_

"Joe! What did you think you were doing? Barging into the spa like that! Haven't you heard of knocking?" Emily stormed out of the spa with her towel tied around her. 

"Huh? No! I just thought I'd get in the spa and then I heard you, but I-"

"You what?"

"I couldn't stop myself."

"Oh you!" She threw her bikini top in Joe's face and grabbed her regular clothes from off of the bed. "Is that what you wanted to see? Huh?"

"No! I was cold and I wanted to go in the hot tub, as long as it wasn't too hot. How as it?"

"Heavenly. Go see for yourself." She shoved Joe into the spa and shut the door behind him. Then she jammed a chair under the doorknob.

"Hey! Come on! Let me out!" Joe pounded on the other side of the door. _Great. Just great. I just happen to stumble in on Emily who was about to change and so she locks me in the spa. _"Emily!" Joe pounded on the door again. "Emily! I didn't see anything! I swear!"

"Yeah right!" Emily pulled on her pants. "You know you can't get that image out of y our head!" She pulled on her tank top and then slipped on her vest.

"Oh Yeah! The image of you in a towel! Come on! You don't want me to suffocate do you?"

"You want me to let you out? So you can go tell Tai and Matt how you saw me half naked, and how awful I look, even with a towel on? I don't think so!" Emily pushed her feet into her army boots.

"You don't look bad!"

"Yeah right! Is that what you're gonna tell Tai?"

"I won't tell Tai or Matt this even happened. I promise. Just let me out!" Joe hit the door. "Come on! The steam is fogging up my glasses!"

"Are you sure?"

"Yes! I won't tell anyone! And you don't look bad in a towel! You have nice legs! Now let me out!"

"Really? I have nice legs?" Emily pulled up the leg of her jeans to look at her right leg.

"Yes! Really! Now let me out! Please!" Joe sounded like he was going to start hyperventilating again, so Emily decided to open the door.

Joe stumbled out and walked into the door frame. "Joe! Are you ok?" Emily helped him up, being careful that Joe's towel didn't fall off.

"I told you my glasses fogged up!" Joe took off his glasses and blew on them so that the steam on them disappeared. 

"Well they probably wouldn't have gotten fogged up if you hadn't yelled do much!" Emily pointed a finger in Joe's face.

"I wouldn't have yelled if you hadn't locked me in there!" Joe pointed a finger in Emily's face.

"I wouldn't have locked you in there if you hadn't barged in while I was changing!" Emily slapped Joe's finger out of her face.

"Oh yeah? Well I wouldn't have barged in there if you hadn't- if you hadn't… ummm if you hadn't…"

"If I hadn't what?"

"I don't know." Joe gently pushed Emily's finger out of his face, and walked over to pick up his duffel bag. "I don't feel like going in the spa anymore. I think I'll go over to Matt and Tai's room to change."

"They're still at the pool. I can hear them."

"Oh. Well do you think you could- "

"I'm going to go over to Gomamon's party. Don't worry about it." Emily picked up her guitar and walked out of the room.

__

Great. I've really blown it. But how am I supposed to explain to her what I felt when I heard her in there? I just couldn't stop myself. And now look at me. She probably thinks I'm a total jerk. Joe sighed and opened up his bag. He pulled out his clothes and put them on. He looked at the clock on the wall. _Ten minutes until 5:00. Oh well, I might as well get there early, since Emily probably doesn't want me to follow her to the party next door._ Joe took out his comb and ran it through his hair. It got caught several times. _I guess I haven't combed my hair in a while. _Joe went over to the sink and stuck his head under the faucet. Then he turned the water on and let it run through his hair. He could feel the knots in his blue hair, slowly start to come untangled.

"Uh Joe?" Joe turned off the water and looked up to see Candymon standing in the room.

"How'd you get in here?" Joe hit his head on the faucet as he tried to get his head out of the sink.

"I think someone left the door open. But listen, Have you seen Emily? Sora said she was in here, getting ready to come to Gomamon's party and she hasn't shown up yet!"

"That's weird, she said she was going to go over there when she left. She was kind of mad, so I figured she'd probably go straight over there."

"Why? What happened?" Candymon handed Joe a towel for his hair.

"Well," Joe blushed nervously. "I was getting tired of TK splashing me in the pool, so I decided to get out and go back to the room. I was getting cold, from standing in the elevator, so I decided to get in the spa when I got back to the room." Joe picked up his comb and began to comb out his wet hair. It slid through much more easily.

"But Sora, Emily and Kari where in there!"

"They left before I got there and went to Gomamon's party/"

"But I didn't see Emily at the party!"

"That's because she didn't go with them! As it turned out, she couldn't find her bikini. Then I came in to the room and walked right in to the spa."

"Oh no! Joe, how could you!" Candymon gasped in horror.

"It's not what it sounds like! She had a towel rapped around her. But she was really mad that I had just barged in without knocking. So she shoved me into the spa, and locked me in until she was done changing. Then she let me out and we kind of argued about why walked in on her. She got mad and left, and that's the last I heard of her." Joe blushed in shame.

"Woah Joe! I didn't know you had it in you!" Joe and Candymon turned to see Gomamon standing in the room.

"Gomamon! Get out of here! You're getting the carpet all wet!" Candymon grabbed another towel and threw it on the ground to soak up the puddle that was forming where Gomamon was standing.

"But I wanna hear what's going on!" Gomamon stomped a flipper against the floor indignantly.

"Well, at least let me dry you off." Joe sighed and got another towel. The draped it over Gomamon and rubbed the towel against him vigorously.

"Hey Joe! Not so hard! You're going to take off a layer of skin!" griped Gomamon.

"There! I'm done!" Joe took all three towels and put them in the hamper.

"So what are we talking about?" Gomamon cocked his head to the side.

"We can't find Emily."

"Really? I heard Sora say that she was on her way to my party. Of course, that was seven minutes ago!"

"I'm just worried that she's run off somewhere because of me. I didn't mean to walk in on her. I just did it without thinking." Joe ran his comb through his again.

"Sure you did Joe!" Gomamon laughed.

"You shut up! This isn't funny! Can't you see how hurt Joe is?" Candymon smacked Gomamon in the back of the head. "Sorry about that Joe."

"It's ok. I guess I kind of deserved it. But I wish that I could just tell how much I…" Joe broke off and looked away.

"Don't worry Joe, we both know how you feel about Emily." Candymon patted Joe's hand.

"You do?" Joe blushed and wiped away a tear.

"I can sense it in you Joe. The day that you met her, I could just feel it. And so could Gomamon."

"But she'll never talk to me ever again now! I've blown it!"

"Joe! Don't say that!"

"That old feeling I had before I met her is going to come back. I'll be alone again! I don't want that to happen. I love the way I feel when I'm with her!"

"Why don't you tell her that? I think she'd probably understand where you're coming from."

"I can't! I just know she hates me! Besides, why would she care that I'm in love with her? She already has Matt drooling over her! And who could turn down someone like Matt? He looks like a Calvin Kline model for God's sake!"

"Who's that?" Candymon and Gomamon both had no idea who Joe was talking about.

"Calvin Kline in a fashion designer. He designs shirts and hats and perfumes and stuff like that. And he usually has all these guys and girls in his adds that look terrific, well, most of them."

"So does Matt look like a guy model or a girl model?" Gomamon asked. Candymon giggled.

"A guy model," Joe sighed, "How can I compete with something like that?"

"Joe, I think you should know something. Emily likes you. I think she's always liked you." Candymon said. Gomamon nodded.

"No way! If she did, she doesn't like me anymore." Joe hid his face in his hands.

"Look, Joe." Gomamon nuzzled up beside Joe, "I know that you feel terrible right now. If there's anything I can do, just let me know."

"Shoot me." Joe cried.

"Not like that! Look, it's almost 5:00. Let's go down and eat. Maybe we'll see Emily down there."

"You think so?" Joe looked up and blinked his red eyes.

"I know so. Come on!" Candymon dried Joe's tears and stood up.

"I'll be right back, I gotta go get everyone else out of our digi-suite. Wait for me ok?" Gomamon hopped off the sofa and went next door.

"I hope you're right Candymon." Joe sighed and looked at the rainbow koala. "I really hope you're right."


	8. 8: Margarita break

Emily sat at the bar on the other side of the restaurant. "Hey kid, aren't you a little young to be drinking this stuff?" the bartender, a pumpkinmon, motioned to Emily's drink.

"Huh? Oh, don't worry. I just want a non-alcoholic margarita." Emily pointed to a bottle of margarita mix on the counter.

"Good choice kid. I thought, maybe you'd bring out a fake ID or something and try to pass off as 21."

"No way! I'm only 15!" Emily pulled out her wallet and showed the bartender her ID.

"Nice picture," he handed her back the ID.

"Thanks. You get used to having your picture taken after a while."

"Why? You have a job part time?"

"No. Permanently."

"What do you do?"

"I'm a rock star for the band GQ."

"Never heard of them."

"I don't think anyone here has. I'm not from around here."

"Really. Where from?"

"This place called Earth."

"Earth. Huh? I'll have to go there on vacation sometime."

:I don't think you'd want to go there. It's not that great. I just live there because I have to. I came here by 'accident' you might say."

"Not that great huh? Why not?"

"Well, the O zone layer- this special layer of gasses we have around the Earth to protect us from the sun's rays- it's deteriorating because of pollution."

"What's pollution?"

"Here, I'll show you." Emily took the napkin she had under her glass, crumpled it up, and threw it on the ground. Then she took a cherry from behind the counter, ate it, and threw the stem on the ground. "You see that? See how messy it looks? Well, imagine if the whole floor was covered in stuff like that, and all of the woods outside too."

The bartender made a face, "It would smell pretty bad too."

"Yeah, it would. And pretty soon, all the chemicals in it would go up and start killing trees and stuff. That's what it does on Earth. And it also goes up and eats holes in the O zone layer."

"Geeze. Sounds like a big mess!"

"It is! Well, I mean, it's not all bad. There are some places there that don't have pollution. And we're trying to stop doing stuff like what I did." Emily picked up the cherry stem and her napkin and threw them away.

"Well, good luck, kid. I hope you solve your problems." The bartender walked to the other side or the bar to help some more customers. 

"You have no idea." Emily muttered. Behind her, she thought she heard the elevator open, and Tai and Matt get out with their digimon. TK was gushing about how he hoped the food would be good.

Emily looked at the clock on the wall. It said 4:57. She sighed and opened up her guitar case to check and make sure everything was there. She reached her hand inside of her guitar and pulled out her transformation card, a picture of her band GQ, a picture of Queen Laurence, and some newspaper clippings. The head lines read "Mysterious Teen Trio Saves Shopping Center From Criminal Master Mind!", "Super Heroines Go Public.", "Gold Card, CATastrophe, and Madame Medusa Save City From Crazed Lunatic.", and "UFO Spotted Over Heighten View Terrace!".

She heard the elevator open again and heard Sora, Mimi, Izzy, Kari and their digimon get out. One by one, they all sat down at an extremely large table. Then she heard Joe, Gomamon, and Candymon come. She sighed and put everything back in her guitar case. She heard Sora say, "Have any of you seen Emily?"

"I thought she was with you," Tai said, "Candymon, do you know where she is?"

"Not a clue, but I'm saving her a spot."

"I don't think we should order until she gets here," said Matt, "It's rude."

"Aw come on! I'm hungry!" whined TK.

"No TK! It's rude not to wait for someone to come before you order." Everyone nodded in agreement. 

"Well, I guess I shouldn't keep them waiting." Emily took a deep breath and picked up her guitar case. The bartender waved to her as she left. She waved back. She could only pray that she could say what she had to.


	9. 9: The hotel 2

Joe looked around nervously, _Where is she? I'll never be able to live with myself if she doesn't show up because she's lost or hurt! _Gomamon's stomach growled. _And I'm hungry! I hope she shows up so I can order too! _"Candymon," Joe leaned over the empty chair that Candymon had saved for Emily between her and Joe. "Are you sure?"

"I'm positive Joe! Don't worry! She'll show up. I can sense her nearby." Candymon patted Joe's hand, then smiled.

"Hey guys. Sorry I'm late." All heads turned anxiously to see Emily standing at the head of the table.

"Emily! Where were you?" Joe and Matt both jumped up at the same time.

"I was having a margarita over at the bar." Emily motioned over to where she had been sitting.

"A margarita? I thought you were Joe's age!" Sora raised an eyebrow.

"It was a non alcoholic one."

"Oh!" Everyone seemed a little disappointed that Emily wasn't drinking a real margarita. Joe figured it was because they probably wanted to see how it looked to get drunk. In the back of his mind, he thought he remembered Jim teasing him when he was little, telling him that the only reason he was born was because their parents got drunk. Joe shook it out of his head. He had never believed it before, and he wasn't about to think about it now.

"Emily!" Candymon got up and hugged Emily, "Come and sit down! I saved you a spot!"

"Gee, thanks Candy!" Emily followed Candymon and sat down next to Joe. She looked at him, gave a small smile, then quickly looked away, blushing slightly. Joe looked at her for a long time. _Great. Now she can't even look me in the eye anymore, let alone look at me for more than 2 seconds. I'll bet, right now, she's wishing that she was sitting anywhere but here._

The waiter came over to take their order. "I'll have a pizza," Tai said.

"Me too!" TK and Kari almost yelled.

"TK!" Matt shushed his brother, then said. "I'll have a steak, medium."

"I'll have a cheeseburger," Joe said, even though it wasn't even his turn.

"I'll have salad," Mimi said.

"I'll have a tuna sandwich," Izzy folded his menu and passed it down to the end of the table, along with everyone else. "Hold the mayo."

"I'll have a club sandwich on wheat." Sora said. "And the digimon want...?"

"I'll have a rainbow sundae!" Everyone looked at Candymon in surprise. "Hey! I do eat sugar ya know!"

"I'll have what Izzy's having." Tentamon decided.

"I'll have some bread. A lot of it." Biyomon tried to sound as if this wasn't a totally weird thing to order.

"I'll have..." The digimon orders became more and more bizarre with Agumon ordering a bucket of fruit, Gabumon wanting a plate of fish-sticks, Patomon wanting a can of whipped cream, Gomamon wanting a Shrimp Louie, Gatomon wanting a bowl of strawberry milk with a twirly straw, and Palmon wanting a head of lettuce with cherry tomatoes in between every other leaf.

"Is that all?" the waiter, oddly enough, didn't think the digimon's orders were strange at all.

"Well, I want some spaghetti and garlic bread." Emily tossed her menu to the waiter and sat back in her chair. She took a deep breath and got ready to say It.

"Your order will be ready shortly." The waiter left.

"Uh, you guys?" Emily said slowly, "I have some stuff I have to tell you."

"As a matter o fact, I have something to tell you guys also." Izzy stood up. Sora noticed that Mimi was looking at him anxiously. "In the past weeks, I've been hiding something from you all. I know that I've always come across to everyone as centered only on my computer most of the time, but well, there's something else that's captivated me. I want you to know that this new thing in my life is one of the most fascinating things I've ever seen. I don't know I've been able to live with out her. She adds new meaning to my definition of the word 'happiness.' "He took Mimi's hand. They smiled at each other. "I want you all to know that I've fallen in love. I've fallen in love with-"

"Me! And I love him too!" Mimi jumped up and threw her arms around Izzy, then kissed him. Everyone stared in surprise at what was happening. There was beat silence as Mimi and Izzy stood kissing in front of everyone.

Finally, Sora broke the silence, "Well, congratulations you two!" she smiled at Mimi and Izzy.

"Ick! They're kissing!" TK made a face. Izzy and Mimi stopped kissing and laughed. Then they sat back down.

"Aaw! This is so sweet." Emily sighed and wiped away a tear.

"Who'da thought something like this could happen?" Matt looked at Izzy and Mimi curiously.

Joe looked at Emily. Why does she look so sad? I know she's happy for Izzy and Mimi, but she seems worried. "Emily?" He touched her arm. She turned to look at him, her hair swishing behind her. "Are you ok?"

"Actually Joe, I'm not."

"Is there anything that I can do to help?"

"No, this is something I've got to handle on my own. Now if you'll excuse me," Emily stood up. "Everyone! I hate to break up this big happy thing for Izzy and Mimi, but there's something I've got to tell you all too."

"Are you going to say who you love Emily?" Tai called out. Emily blushed.

"No. This is something else." She coughed and picked up her guitar case. "When I met Joe, he told me that Gennai had mentioned that I had super powers." A hum went through the others. "Well, it's true." She opened up her guitar case and pulled out the picture of her band. She handed it to Joe who looked at it, then passed it around. "This is a picture of my band GQ. That's me with the guitar, Katie with the keyboard, and Betsy on the drums. We were just a normal band until we found these." She held out her transformation card. "As soon as we read them, we got these super powers. Katie could control sound and talk to cats. Betsy could control her hair and I could turn stuff like this," She picked p her napkin, "Into gold cards." She passed around all the newspaper articles except the one about the UFO. "We decided to use our powers to save the world. You know, typical hero stuff. Then Katie started to notice that, every time we defeated a bag guy, this weird UFO suddenly appeared and sucked them up." She handed 

Joe the article about the UFO. "Shortly after, we were visited by Laurence, queen of the planet Orgisian." She handed Candymon the picture of Queen Laurence. "She told us the origin of our powers had come from a group of heroines called the Guardians of the Universe. They had been suspended in time by a villain we had recently defeated, called the Brain. Somehow, their spirits had sent themselves to Earth and turned into credit cards. We found them and read them. When we did, their spirits came into us and summoned out the powers in their old bodies back in Queen Laurence's palace. As long as the Guardians are close by, we've always been able to transform. But something terrible has happened. GAG had managed to take the Guardian's bodies and put them in a force field. As long as they're in that thing, we can't summon their power and transform." Emily felt her face getting hot as she paused. 

Everyone was quiet and Emily began to wonder, for a brief second, if she should have never decided to tell them. Izzy looked at her and then at her card. "Well, it does make some sense. Your card works kind of like a digivice, only you have to be in range of the Guardians to be able to transform."

"Uh, I guess so." Emily looked at her card, then at the digivice on her waist. Then there was total silence again. Emily stood at the table as everyone tried to comprehend all that she had told them. 

Matt broke the silence with a cough. "I don't quite understand all of what you've said, and I can't help but wonder why you didn't tell us before. We're your friends Emily! You could have trusted us!"

"I- I didn't feel like I knew you all well enough to tell you guys. I was afraid that I would tell you and you'd all think that I was totally weird or something."

"But Candymon mentioned that you transformed when we first met her."

"Well then you knew. Why didn't you say something?"

"I didn't know if it was true or not. And besides, it was only Candymon that knew." Matt pushed his hair out of his face.

"Well," Emily and Joe glanced at each other, "Candy wasn't the only one who knew."

"Joe?" Everyone looked at Joe in amazement.

"You knew Joe?" Tai couldn't believe what he was hearing.

"Well, yeah. She told me on the way over to meet you guys."

"You told Joe but not us?" Matt slammed his fist down on the table.

"I trusted him! I talked to him for an hour and a half after I met him. He told me all about you guys, and I felt like I should tell him. Besides, he didn't tell anyone, just like he promised." Emily said.

"Hence the crest o' reliability." Candymon cut in, then shut up.

"This just doesn't make sense! And what's this about GAG having the Guardians? We're supposed to be saving the world! Not saving three zombies who help you transform!"

"They're the Guardians of the Universe! I have the spirit of Godiva, the leader! I have to save them! Laurence is counting on me!" Emily's eyes flashed with anger. "I can't help you save the world when I can't help save the universe! I was made a digidestined for a reason other than the fact that I was there when Greymon fought that ugly bird-type thing. Just like everyone else!"

"Well maybe your being a digidestined was just a big mistake!" Matt growled as he leaned across the table to glare at Emily.

" Oh and like your being one is just do special! Emily reached around her neck and pulled off her tag. Then she pulled off her digivice and threw them both down on the table in front of Matt. They landed with a thump in front of him. "Oh, and just because you found out that I'm different from you guys doesn't mean that I don't still have feelings!" Emily ran away from the table, knocking over the waiter who was bringing a tray of water. 

"Emily!" Joe stood up and called after her. He started to go after her when Candymon called out, "Wait for me!" She jumped up out of her chair and ran to catch up with Joe. They disappeared outside still calling after her.

"Nice going Matt!" Gomamon looked at Matt scornfully.

"Well I was speaking for everyone else! Don't you think we should focus on saving the world instead of her and her Guardians?" Matt looked around.

No one spoke, they just stared at the table. "You didn't have to tell her that she shouldn't be a digidestined." Tai looked up.

"And you didn't have to tell her that the Guardians were stupid an unimportant." Sora looked at the picture of Queen Laurence. "In fact, I think that the Guardians helped keep Earth under order while we were here."

"You mean the GQ's." corrected Izzy. "The Guardians powers flow and let the GQ's transform, therefore, it's the GQ's that kept things under control."

"Yeah, but we saved Earth from Myotismon and every other crazed digimon set on concurring our world." Matt protested.

"But Matt," Sora walked over to Emily's guitar case and placed everything gently inside. Then she picked up one of the newspaper articles and showed it to him. "Did you ever think that, if it hadn't been for them, we would have had much more trouble saving the world?"

"I know Matt!" Kari glared, "I don't think our digimon could have handled fighting Myotismon, his evil followers, and whatever else was going on at the time."

"But- but..." Matt was trapped. Everyone was right and he knew it.

TK stood up. "Matt, you're my brother and I know that you care abut me a lot and I love you. But right now, I really wish I didn't know you! Emily didn't do anything wrong! She was telling us her secret because we're her friends and now she'll never wanna be our friends again because you've ruined everything!" Tears sprang into TK's eyes as he spoke.

"TK…" Matt walked towards his brother.

"Leave me alone!" Tk grabbed the key to their hotel room out of Matt's pocket and ran off crying. 

"TK!" Matt tried to chase after TK but Tai and Izzy held him back. "Tk!" He reached out.

"Let him go Matt! He's upset. I think he needs to be alone for a while." Sora put her hand on Matt's shoulder.

"No! I have to go after him! TK!" Mat struggled to get free. Then he went limp. 

Sora helped him to sit down. "It's ok Matt. TK's a big boy. He'll be ok. Besides, he's just going to your room."

"It's Emily I'm worried about." Gomamon whispered to Palmon.

"TK." Matt hid his face in his hands and sobbed. "What have I done? Emily! TK! I'm sorry! What have I done?"

"Emily!" Candymon stuck her head into her room. Then she came back out. "Sorry Joe, she's not in there."

"Let's try the pool again!" Joe and Candymon got into the elevator. _This is horrible! _Joe leaned against one of the walls of the elevator. _I should have tried to make Matt stop! He attacked her and I just sat there. I've never seen her cry like that before. _He heard Candymon sigh. _Poor Candymon. She hurts as much as Emily does. When she saw Emily throw her digivice down with her tag… _Joe shuddered. He didn't like to think about the pain he'd seen in Candymon's blue and green eyes. He could almost hear her heart breaking as Emily's digivice hit the table, and he thought he saw tears in her eyes when Emily ran off.

It was a rare thing to see a digimon cry, and when you saw them cry, it was heart breaking. He glanced down at Candymon. She was holding herself as she stared at the door.

"I don't understand it." Candymon whispered. "I can transform like she can, Gabumon can transform, Gomamon can transform. And our ability to transform comes from a source too. If the source isn't nearby, then we can't transform, and if we can't transform, then we can't help save our world. Why shouldn't her problem be similar to ours?"

"Because Matt tends to jump too far ahead. He didn't stop to think about it, I guess." Joe sighed. He wanted to hate Matt right now, but he couldn't let himself. Hate was a thing that was dangerous to let over take you, and it wasn't a good idea to let that happen when you were away from home.

They stepped out of the elevator and walked over to the pool. Joe stepped through the door and looked around. Nobody. "She's not in here," he sighed.

"Let's check the garden," Candymon glanced over at the restaurant. She could see the table where the others were sitting. Gomamon saw her and arched an eyebrow that asked 'have you found her?' Candymon shook her head. 

Then she heard Biyomon cry, "Hey! Emily's guitar case is gone!" Joe jumped when he heard this and stared to walk over to the restaurant, but Candymon stopped him.

"That's weird," Sora's voice could be heard, "I just put all her pictures back in it and shut it a second ago!" There was a buzz as everyone pondered where it could have gone.

"There ya go! She's still in here!" Candymon grabbed Joe's hand and pulled him to the entrance to the garden. "I just know she's gotta be in here!"

Joe sighed. I hoped that Emily was in the garden, but he didn't know what he would tell her when he found her. Come back? I'm sure Matt didn't mean it? What can I possibly say that can help her come back? Tai's the one who should be over here! He's the hero type person, he could talk her into it, not me! I can't do anything! "I shouldn't go." Joe turned and started to walk away.

"What? Of course you should! Emily likes being around you! If there's one person she'd like to talk to about now, it's you. Now come on!" She pushed him into the garden.

Joe and Candymon looked in awe at what stood before them. A large fountain stood in the center of the garden. The waters that flowed out of it were a deep blue. A walkway that lead to several benches, tables and a gazebo, was lined with birdbaths and gazing balls on pedestals. Each birdbath had a large white waterlily in it, and each gazing ball swirled with the colors of the sky. The gazebo that stood on one end of the garden was under the shade of a willow tree. On the other end of the garden, there was a small waterfall that trickled into a miniature lake were small fish nipped at the cherry-blossoms that had fallen on the surface.

Joe and Candymon looked around. Silence. Except for some yokomon chatting at a table, two vegimon sipping tea while arguing about the kinds of fish in the lake, and a fridgymon eating an ice cream cone on a bench, there was no Emily in sight.

Joe sighed and sat down on a bench seven feet away from the gazebo. "I can't believe this. We've looked everywhere!"

"Well we can't just give up! She's still here somewhere, I can feel it. It's kind of like a 6th sense."

"I hope you're right." Joe sighed and reached into his pocket. He pulled out a crumpled piece of paper. It was something he'd carried with him since he was eleven.

"What's that Joe?" Candymon leaned over to look at the paper.

"Oh, just something I read when ever I start to feel a little let down."

" Keep Me, by- Joe! This is a song by Emily! When did you get this?"

"Along time ago, when we all lived at Heighten View Terrace."

"These are great lyrics!" Candymon read them out loud. 

__

"When the days are long and the nights are dark I keep you in my heart.

There's so much that I keep, but you're always in my heart.

I keep you with the memories of good times and of bad times.

They've all happened, but you'll always be right now, You're in my heart.

"Keep me too, when your days are painful.

Keep me when your nights are dark.

You know I'll always have a place for you, so keep me in your heart.

"When they push you down and laugh, when they tell you that you can't,

Remember that you've got me in your heart.

When they tell you that you're no one, when they tell you you're a freak,

Remember that you're someone to me.

"Keep me too, when your days are painful.

Keep me when your nights are dark.

You know I'll always have a place for you, so keep me in your heart.

"When they tell me I'm worthless, when they ignore my cries,

I'll hold you in my heart.

When I finally find you, I'll be able to know,

I'm finally someone's for keeps."

Joe closed his eyes as Candymon read. He could almost hear the music playing in the background. He could almost hear it, just like he did so long ago...

Joe flashed back to when he was eleven. He was sitting in his room, doing his homework when Jim burst into his room. "I'm going to go out for a soda. You want one?"

"Hmm? No thanks Jim. I've got a lot of work to do." Joe went back to work as Jim shrugged and walked out of the room. He heard the front door close. He was alone. 

Joe looked out the window at the cars on the street. Then he went back to work. Then he began to hear a soft sound coming from above him. He heard humming and then the ringing of a guitar. He stopped working and looked up. It had to be coming from the room above his on the next story. He sat still and listened.

"When the days are long and the nights are dark," A silvery voice floated down. "I keep you in my-"

"Emily!" A woman's voice yelled, causing Joe to jump. "I thought I told you to stop making all that noise! You're giving me a headache!"

"But mom! I wrote these lyrics in poetry today, and I wanted to sing them for Katie!"

"I don't care who you're singing them to! I don't think that noise you make is suitable enough to be heard me a deaf person! Now cut it out!"

Silence again, then Joe heard the soft sound of crying. Then there was a thump of a lid closing and the click of latches being thrown. He heard the thud of foot steps running, then the front door on the other story slam shut. He stood up and followed the sound of the foot steps, hearing her sobs all the while.

Then he heard her get into the elevator. Quickly, he ran out of the apartment and into the hall way. He watched the light of the elevator go down, then got into he next one. He got off on the first floor and looked around. Then he heard the sound of the guitar again. He walked out side and saw a girl who had to be about his age. 

She was sitting under a tree strumming a chestnut brown guitar. Her long dark brown hair glistened in the sunlight, and he saw tears spilling out of her deep brown eyes. Her voice was shook as she sang softly with her music. Then she stopped playing and pulled out a piece of paper from her pocket. She erased something on it and then wrote something else in. Then she went back to singing.

Joe stood there listening to her. For a brief second, the girl looked up and their eyes met. Joe was swept into a fantasy where he was there next to her, drying her tears, holding her as she sang to him. Then she looked away and went back to concentrating on her song. Then, suddenly, she stopped playing and threw her guitar into it's case. "Argh! I can't do this! This isn't fair! This just isn't working!" The crumpled up the piece of paper and threw it on the ground. Then she lay her head on her guitar case and cried.

Joe couldn't stand to see this. He walked over to a cherry tree and plucked off a blossom. Then he walked over to her. She took no notice of him and kept crying. Joe coughed and she looked up. "Don't cry. I thought your song was beautiful." He handed her the cherry blossom.

"No. It's horrible. I can't even feel what I'm saying anymore." She shook her head as she took it. "I can't even practice in my own room, and my own parents don't support me in what I love. Everything just seems so.." She stopped and looked away. Then she pulled a small notebook out of her guitar case and placed the cherry-blossom in it, pressing it flat when she closed it.

Then Jim came back and called to Joe. Joe stood up and bowed. "I'm sorry, but I have to go. I think your playing was wonderful. Don't stop it if it's something that you love." She smiled at him and mouthed the words 'thank you.' Then he walked over and picked up the paper that she'd crumpled up. He looked at her. "Do you want me to throw this away for you?"

"No. Keep it. It's my gift to you." She smiled, then leaned her back against the tree and closed her eyes. Joe opened up the paper and found the words to the song that she had been singing. He smiled. My gift to you.

That was the last time he ever saw her, until Candymon showed up, that is. At night, he would lay awake and listen to her singing softly to herself, unaware that he was listening. Sometimes he'd hear one of her parents yell at her to be quiet, then hear her crying softly. Then he'd look out the window, waiting to see if she'd go back out and play under the tree. She never did. Joe's last years at Heighten View Terrace were spent listening to her sing in the room above him. And when he moved, he looked at the paper she'd given him. She would always be someone to him, and he hoped that he was someone to her.

"Joe? Joe? Joe!" Joe was brought back by Candymon's voice.

"Huh? Sorry Candymon. I guess I got caught up in something else. I was just remembering somethi-"

"Shh! Do you hear that?" Candymon's ears perked up. Joe listened with Candymon. "It sounds like," Candymon and Joe got up and slowly waked to the gazebo, "A guitar!" Joe and Candymon stepped into the gazebo to find Emily crying as she played her guitar.

"Emily!" Candymon ran over to her and hugged her.

"Candy!" Emily sounded shocked and happy at the same time. "What are you doing here? How'd you find me?"

"Well, you weren't anywhere else, so I decided that you must be in here. You always did like flowers." Candymon sat down next to Emily. "And, of course, looking for you was Joe's idea."

Emily looked up at Joe. "Hi," She murmured.

"Hi." Joe blushed nervously.

"Emily, why'd you run away?" Candymon asked.

"I couldn't take it anymore Candy! The way Matt was glaring at me, the way everyone was so quiet, I couldn't take it!" Emily sighed.

"You aren't going to stop being a digidestined are you?" Joe crossed his fingers, hoping for a no.

Emily smiled and reached into her guitar case, pulling out her digivice and tag. "If I quit, would I still have these?"

"I knew you wouldn't leave!" Candymon hugged Emily happily. Joe just smiled, but inside, he was jumping up and down.

"I'm glad you're staying Emily." He looked at her shyly.

"Thanks Joe. I'm glad that you're glad that I'm not leaving. Anyways, I just came out here for some time to think and be by myself. I was thinking of going back around the time you guys found me." Emily stood up and brushed herself off.

"You were? Geeze! We could have just waited, like, five more minutes and you would have showed back up!" Candymon laughed and threw up her paws.

"Well I'm glad that you cared enough to try come find me." Emily picked Candymon up in one arm and then her guitar case in another. "Come on Joe! I'm going back to the room."

"I think I'll stick around here for a couple more minutes and tell everyone you're ok." Joe hated to miss out on a chance to be alone with Emily, but he knew the others were probably worried.

"Ok. I'll be in there when you decide to come up. Oh, and Joe?"

"Yeah?"

"Be sure to knock this time before you open the door."

"Gotcha." Joe blushed a little bit and Emily smiled. _Well, at least she's forgiven me for earlier today. _

"Gomamon?" Joe knocked lightly on the door to the digisuite. He had just finished telling Tai and Matt, who were in the weight room, that he had found Emily. Matt had almost dropped the barbell he was holding, and Tai almost dropped his 20 lb. weight on his foot. This gave Joe enough reason to think something had happened after he and Candymon had run off after Emily. "Gomamon!" Joe knocked harder.

"Sheesh Joe! Hold on! It's not easy to get out of this pool. The water's nice and warm." Gomamon opened the door. 

"Sorry." Joe sounded very unsympathetic.

"Yeah whatever." Gomamon closed the door after Joe.

"Listen, Gomamon, I need to ask you something."

"Uh, ok. Shoot!"

"Did anything happen with the others after Candymon and I ran after Emily?"

"Define 'anything'," Gomamon flopped back into the pool. "A lot happened."

"Like what?" Joe pushed the button on the wall and then sat down on a pile of towels.

"Well, everyone kind of yelled at Matt for being so harsh on Emily. Sora and Kari tried to explain to Matt how the Guardians have helped us while we were in the Digital world and TK started crying and ran off to his room. Matt started crying after TK left, and about five minutes later, you and Candymon walked by. How is she anyway?"

"Matt started crying? Really?" a small smile crept over Joe's face as he pictured Matt's perfect features smeared by rivers of tears and reddened.

"Joe, you're scaring me. You've got that look on your face?"

"What look?"

"That one you get when you're thinking about something weird."

"Well excuuuuse me for thinking." Joe stuck his tongue out at Gomamon.

"Oh yeah?" Gomamon playfully splashed some water at Joe.

"Hey! Watch it!" Joe laughed as he jumped back

"Then don't do that again!" 

"Do what? Thith?" Joe stuck his tongue out at Gomamon again as he spoke.

"I warned you! Hiya!" Gomamon jumped up out of the water, then landed with a loud splat as he dove back in. A wave of water sprayed out from around him, getting everything around him wet, including Joe.

"Ah! My pants!" Joe grabbed a towel and began to dry himself off.

"I told, but would you listen? Noooo."

"Gee Gomamon. I'm thoree." Joe stuck his tongue out again.

"A wise guy huh?" Gomamon dove underwater and filled his mouth up with water. "Furpryth!" Gomamon spit the water out of his mouth like a squirt gun at Joe.

"Joe! Gomamon! What are you two doing?" Joe and Gomamon looked over to see Candymon standing in the doorway with her hands on her hips.

"Oh, Candymon..."

"We were just..."

"I was telling him..."

"And we..."

"I...was...just going to go now." Joe gave a cheesy grin and backed out of the digisuite.


	10. 10: The hotel 3

"Emily? Is it ok if I come in?" Joe tapped his key on the door.

"Yeah, hold on a second, ok?" Emily opened the door and Joe stepped in. "Thanks for knocking." She grinned.

"No problem." Joe blushed again. Then he looked at Emily and blushed even more. "Oh, I didn't know that you…" Emily was wearing a big white T-shirt with the words "think of Hawaii" on it. Under that, she was wearing a pair of plaid boxers.

"What? You actually think I was going to sleep in my clothes that I've worn for, what? How long?"

"No. I just..." Joe was turning the color of a fire engine.

Emily sighed. "Never mind. I don't want to know. Say, you aren't planning on wearing your clothes to bed, do you?"

"What? Well what else would I sleep in?" Joe was now turning the color of a brand new fire engine.

"You think I don't know what boxers look like, Joe? I'm not a total moron. At least you don't sleep naked like Matt does." Emily rolled her eyes.

"Hey! I forgot about that!" Joe chuckled.

"Here! If you get cold sleeping without a shirt on, put this on." Emily tossed Joe a shirt out of her bag. It said "Party 4 Ever" on it in big blue letters.

"Thanks, I'll keep it right here." Joe placed it next to his bed.

"You can go ahead and change if you want, Joe. I'm just going to clean out my guitar case. It's been getting kind of cluttered." Emily lifted her guitar case up on to the bed and opened it up.

"Um, ok." Joe walked into the bathroom and pulled off his shirt. _I can't believe this! She's sleeping in a T-shirt and boxers, and she's ok with me sleeping in the same room with her while I'm just wearing boxers. _Joe folded his clothes and put them in his bag. Then he walked back out.

"If you put your bag by the door, Leomon told me he'd have the maid pick them up and have them cleaned and back to us by tomorrow morning." Emily said without looking up.

Joe picked up his bag and Emily's and hung them outside on the doorknob. Then he shut the door again. "Oh! I just remembered!" Joe opened the door again, grabbed his bag, and pulled out his shorts. He fished around in his pocket until he found Emily's song. He took it out, then put his shorts back in the bag, and the bag back out side. Then he shut the door. "Don't want anything to happen to this."

"What's that Joe?" Emily looked up.

"Oh, just something I like to read." Joe fumbled the paper nervously in his hands.

"Hmmm. I have something like that; something I like to look at." Emily motioned for Joe to come sit down next to her as she pulled out a small notebook. Joe's eyes widened. "Someone gave this to me, along time ago. I've treasured it always." Emily pulled out the cherry-blossom that Joe had given her the day she'd given him her song. "The person who gave this to me was my inspiration to not stop my music. Every time I thought I would quit, I looked at this flower and remembered that somebody had been touched by my music and didn't want me to stop. And in return," Emily looked as though she were in a dream, "I gave him my song. That was the first song I'd ever written, the first time I'd ever poured out my heart into something like that, and I shared my gift with that person."

"My gift to you," Joe whispered as he handed Emily the paper in his hands.

"What's this?" Emily took the paper from Joe and opened it up. Her eyes filled with tears as she looked at it. Then she turned to Joe. "It was you? How could forget?"

"Emily," Joe swallowed his fears and reached over and took her hand. He used his other one to close her guitar case and shove it off her bed. "When you gave me that song, you really did give me a gift. When ever I read that, I always felt as though I was being told that I mattered. I was important to someone, even if I hadn't met them yet. It was a gift that always gives, and keeps on giving. That was your gift to me." He looked at the cherry-blossom, "And that was my gift to you."

"My gift to you." Emily whispered as she reached out and ran her fingers down Joe's cheek. Then she leaned forwards and kissed Joe softly on the lips. "You don't know how long I hoped I would see you again." She breathed.

Joe's pulse quickened. He felt himself slowly begin to kiss her back. "And you don't know how long I waited for you." His arms went around Emily's waist, and he felt her arms go around his neck.

They stopped to catch their breath. "I guess Mimi's not the only one." Emily said softly as she kissed Joe again. "She's not the only one who's fallen in love."

"And I guess Izzy isn't the only one either." Joe smiled. He held Emily close to him and sighed. "We'll have to tell the others you know."

"I know. Let's do it tomorrow so it won't be a big surprise to everyone." Emily ran her fingers through Joe's hair. "Joe, what did you do to your hair? It's not all tangled or anything!"

"Oh, I just stuck my head under the faucet of the sink and got my hair wet, then I ran a comb through it." Joe ran a hand through Emily's hair. "Your hair's not tangled either."

"Conditioner and a good brush. It's a good thing I washed my hair before I left. And it's a good thing I brought it all with me." Emily gave a small laugh.

Joe tightened his grip around Emily. "You know what I want right now?"

"What?"

"For some reason," Joe let go of Emily and stood up. "I can't get rid of the fact that I'm starving!"

"Me too! And you know why? Because we never ate!"

"Oh yeah! I was so worried about finding you, that I forgot about eating."

"And was so upset about what Matt told me, that I forgot about eating too! Geeze! I'm starving! Where's the phone? I'm calling room service."

"I want a cheeseburger!" Joe handed Emily the phone.

Emily picked up the receiver and dialed. "Hello? Yeah, could you please put me through to room service? Thanks. Hi? Yeah, this is room E07. I'd like to order some food to have brought up here. Uh huh. Yeah, get something to write all this down on. That's a good idea. Mmhmm. Ok, I need one cheeseburger with," She looked at Joe. "With…"

"Lettuce."

"Lettuce."

"Tomatoes."

"Tomatoes."

"Pickles."

"Pickles."

"Catsup."

"Ketchup."

"Mayo."

"Mayo."

"Mustard."

"Mustard."

"Onions."

"And onions. Got that? Ok. And I also want a plate of spaghetti. Yeah, spaghetti. And give me an order of garlic bread too. Ok. To drink? Uh, I'll have water. And a…"

"Milkshake. Strawberry."

"And a strawberry milkshake. Ok. Uh uh. Uh huuuh. Uh huh? Oh, well that's great! Thanks. In a half an hour? Great. Ok, thanks. Bye." Emily hung up. "Wow."

"What?"

"Well, the person in room service said this meal was no charge. Apparently, our tab is on the house. How weird."

"Well, Izzy said Gennai set this up for us. Or maybe Leomon's letting us stay here for free because he knows us. Or maybe..uh maybe…"

"That's enough Joe. Let's just wait for the food to come ok?"

"Ok. So..."

"So..."

"What should we do while we're waiting?" Joe arched his eyebrow.

"Let me think for a millisecond." Emily paused, then put an arm around Joe. "I don't know. What do you want to do?" A light smile grazed her lips.

"How about," Joe stopped and met her smile with his lips, kissing her gently. Then he stopped and pulled away.

"Woah! Joe, I didn't know you were such a good kisser!" Emily sounded surprised.

"Really? That's the first time I ever tried that." Joe blushed slightly and looked away. "I'm not exactly experienced in this whole romance thing."

"Oh Joe!" Emily sat down on her bed. "There's so much I just wish I could say right now. There's so much that I wish I could do. So much." Emily hugged her knees.

"Then tell me." Joe sat next to her and smoothed her hair behind her shoulders. He leaned forwards and kissed her gently on the cheek, then pulled her closer to him.

Emily relaxed against Joe and rested her head against his shoulder. "Joe, I-" her voice quivered.

"Shh." Joe pressed a finger against Emily's lips. "I want to say something first." Joe took Emily's hand and began tracing a heart in her palm. "Before I met you, I was the one that everyone forgot. I was always alone. My heart was empty. But then, you and Candymon showed up. Emily, I fell in love with you again the minute I saw you. 

"I love you. I love the way your eyes always seem to be laughing and how they get this flash of light in them when you've got an idea. I love how you arch your eyebrows when you talk. I love how your lips form that perfect cupid's bow. I love how your whole face lights up when you laugh. I love how the sun and the rain makes your hair glisten. I love...I love," Joe traced his finger down the middle of the face. Down the slope of her nose, down soft slopes of her lips, down her neck. "I love you."

He caressed her cheek and held her face in the palms of his hands. "After we moved, I tried to push you out of my head. I didn't like to remember that I had fallen in love. But I never forgot about you Emily. I tried and tried. And when I thought I had forgotten about you, I felt so empty and alone. You're a part of me. You can't understand how much I-" Joe kissed her lips. He pressed Emily close to him. He could feel his heart racing as Emily slid her arms around his neck. He felt his tongue slowly work its way into her mouth and her tongue slowly push it back. "Love." Joe whispered passionately.

He heard Emily gasp and the kiss was suddenly broken. "I...I..." Emily moved away from Joe.

"Emily! Did I say or do something wrong?" Joe was hurt and puzzled at the same time.

"No Joe, it's not you. It's just...just...Greg...he-" Emily stopped and looked away.

"He was someone that you loved and then he turned out to be a super villain?"

Emily shuddered and nodded. "He broke Godiva's heart and mine. There's this feeling in me now. This suspicion. It's afraid you'll hurt me some how."

"Emily, I'd never do anything to hurt you." Joe put his arm gently around Emily. "Never."

"I want to believe you Joe. I really want to."

"Then do it!"

"I can't!" Emily cried. "I'm afraid! There's so much going on right now, Joe. The guardian's being stolen, my not being able to transform, GAG capturing digimon, having to find my crest..." Emily's voice trailed off. "It's all so much. I don't know how to handle it all at once! What if you ended up hurting me Joe? Then everything would just be to much."

"Emily, look at me!" Joe slid off the bed and kneeled down in front of her. "I just confessed my love for you. I listed all the things I love about you. I've kept the song you wrote for four years and you kept the flower I gave you. What more do you want? For me to handcuff myself to you? For me to cut off my hand for you? What? Haven't you heard enough to know how wonderful I think you are? Doesn't that help you know how much I love you?" He grasped her hand tightly. Emily looked away and her eyes clouded as she thought. "Well?"

Emily closed her eyes and inhaled deeply, then she sighed.

"Well?" Joe held her hand tighter.

"Yes Joe, that's perfect." Emily opened her eyes. "You've done all you can to let me know. I know that you love me Joe. And I know now that I love you as strong as you love me." She looked at Joe. "I love you too."

"Hurry up you guys!" Tai grabbed Sora and Kari's hands and dragged them into the elevator.

"Tai! Where are we going?" Sora laughed as Tai hurriedly pushed the buttons and bounced around impatiently as he waited for the doors to close.

"Yeah Tai! First you wake us up at what ever time it is! Then you make us call Mimi and Izzy and tell then to meet us on the 5th floor! What gives?" Kari punched her brother in the leg.

"You'll see!" Tai snickered as they stepped out of the elevator to meet a sneering Matt, a sleepy eyed TK, a baggy eyed Izzy, and a frizzy haired Mimi.

"Tai! What's this all about! I need my beauty sleep you know!" Mimi began complaining as soon as she saw Tai.

"Chill out Mimi! Me and Tai wanna show you guys something!" Matt looked at Tai, then he and Tai giggled.

Tai turned to face everyone, then cleared his throat. "What you're about to see may shock you. So before I-"

"Just get to the point Tai!" Sora yawned.

"Hey! Why are we in front of Joe and Emily's room?" Everyone glanced at the door number after hearing TK's observation.

"Which leads me to my point!" Tai exclaimed triumphantly. "Matt and I were in the weight room earlier, when-"

"The weight room? What were you doing? Getting rid of your abbs of flab?"

Tai sighed, "When Joe came in. He told us that he found Emily in the garden and that she wasn't going to stop being one of us. Then, he left. After a while, Matt and I got tried of-"

"Of pretending to work out?"

Tai held a fist out at Kari. "We got tired of lifting, so we decided to take the stairs back to our room for exercise. Well, we got so caught up in climbing the stairs, that we forgot to go to our rooms, and we ended up on the 5th floor. We decided to stop by and visit Joe and Emily, but, when we knocked on the door, no one answered. Matt and I were about to bang on the door, when we discovered that it wasn't locked. We walked in and, well, see for your selves!" Tai pushed the door open to reveal Joe and Emily's room. It was obvious by the plates and glasses, that they had ordered room service. But the real shocker was what everyone saw next. Emily and Joe lay asleep together. Emily was in Joe's arms, snuggled against him. Both of them were smiling.

"Aaaaaaaw!" Tk and Kari couldn't help awing at the two.

"Well, I guess Mimi and Izzy have got company." Matt slapped Izzy on the back.

"So...tired. Shouldn't...have...stayed...up...on the...Internet...Mimi...I'm...Zzzzzz" There was a thud as Izzy collapsed on the floor, asleep.

"Oh Izzy!" Mimi yawned. Then she picked up Izzy and dragged him off by the arms. " 'night everyone! See you in the morning!" She dragged Izzy into the elevator and the doors shut behind her. "Shh, Izzy. Mimi's here."

"Tai?" Kari tugged at Tai's sleeve.

"What is it Kari?" Tai shut the door to Joe and Emily's room. Neither of them stirred.

"Were Emily and Joe the reason you woke us up?"

"Well, yeah I guess so."

"That's it?" Kari arched her eyebrows.

"Well, um, yeah!" Tai didn't like the tone of Kari's voice. He braced himself for her response.

"You woke us up to show us Joe and Emily? You woke us up for that? Tai! I was dreaming about My Little Ponies!" Kari gave Tai and charlie horse and stormed off, with Sora and TK, into the elevator; leaving Tai rolling in pain on the ground.

"Matt!" TK called over his shoulder, "I'm spending the night with Sora and Kari ok?"

"I guess so." Apparently, Matt didn't' think it was odd for TK to be sleeping in a room filled with girls. He directed his attention to the groaning Tai. "Man, I can't believe your own sister floored you!"

"Oh, just be quiet and help me up!" Tai glared up at Matt as he struggled to stand.

"Tai got floored by his sister. Tai got floored by his sister. Tai got floored by-"

"Are you gonna help me up or not?"

The next day, at breakfast, Joe and Emily glanced at each other and smiled. "Everyone, I've got some, uh, good news." Joe stood up. "Emily and I have-"

"We know."

"You do?" Joe turned to Mimi who had spoken. "but how did you...?"

"You left your door unlocked last night, and when Tai and I went to visit you, we saw you two asleep." Matt said smugly. Tai shrunk into his seat.

"Oh, I see." Emily looked at the two boys. Joe tensed himself, waiting for her to yell at them for spying. Instead, she smiled and said "Well, I guess I'm glad that you got that out of our way then. Thanks Tai."

"Me?" Tai's eyes widened.

"Yeah. Gomamon heard the whole thing last night that happened in the hall. He told me you brought everyone in front of our room."

"Oh, well, ummm..." Tai and Matt blushed. "We just thought the sight of you and Joe together was so cute that we needed everyone to see you guys too!"

"Nice save," Matt muttered.

"You and Joe hooked up, Emily? Way to go!" Candymon hugged Emily.

"All right Joe! I told you it would happen!" Gomamon did his best to give Joe a high-five with his flipper.

"Wow! This is great! I'm so happy for all of you!" Sora put one arm around Joe and Emily and her other arm around Mimi and Izzy. "Can't you just feel the love you guys?"

"All I can feel is Sora getting all emotional." Tai said through his teeth. Then, "Yeah, Sora. It's great."

"Well," Mimi looked around, "Unless anyone else has a secret to tell, I think we should enjoy rest of our stay here. Anyone care to join me in the beauty spa for a massage?"

"Oh, I'm going to hate to leave!" Sora sighed as she and Tai sat together in the garden. It was their last night at the Digimon Hotel, and all the couples had decided to hang out in the garden together for a while. Tai and Sora were sitting together, even though they hadn't said anything about being together. Joe and Emily sat together next to the fountain. Izzy and Mimi were sitting under a willow tree, next to the lake. TK and Kari were skipping rocks on the lake, despite Mimi's complaints that they were getting pond scum on her. Only Matt sat alone, reading an issue of Hot Rod that he'd brought with him. 

"Joe?" Emily looked into Joe's eyes.

"What is it Emily?"

"Look around us Joe. Look at how beautiful it is." She motioned to everyone. "I just feel so good knowing how everyone's together in some way. Look at it."

Joe looked. Sora was drawing a flower on Tai's hand. TK was offering Kari some of his soda. Izzy was braiding Mimi's hair for her. "It's beautiful all right, Emily. But it seems like there's something missing in it all."

Emil looked at Matt. "Him. He's alone."

"What?" He followed Emily's gaze. "So? Matt always is like that unless TK's around."

"But it's his...well....his music, Joe."

"Music?" Joe was getting confused.

"Well, Joe, one of the side effects of Godiva's powers in me, is that I've developed a different kind of empathy. Instead of feeling what a person's feeling, I hear what they're feeling. Everyone has a song in them, Joe. I know because I can hear them. The song's effected by the feelings. I can hear Matt's song. It's so sad, alone."

"What's it like, Emily?" The look in Emily's eyes caused Joe to put his arm around her.

"It's so lonely, Joe. It's like a single instrument playing by itself, then it gets joined my another one, then it's alone again. And when it's alone, it's so sad." Emily's eyes watered. "It's like his song is completely surrounding him, like a barrier. He feels like he's surrounded by loneliness. It's just so- Huh?" Emily looked down. Her tag had begun to glow and suddenly, there was a flash. Emily looked at the fountain, and the blue waters in it began to swirls together in the center of it. Then, the blue was suddenly sucked out of the water so that it was more like a blue mist. The mist floated through the air and swirled through a green wind chime that hung from a tree causing the notes to ring through the air. Then it stopped in front of Emily and turned into a crest. The crest slipped into her tag and was set in place.

"Emily!" Everyone came running to her.

"Emily! You've found your crest!" Sora hugged Emily.

"More like it found me." Emily examined her crest. It was a line that looked like it had been folded in half so that the ends wound upwards around each other, connection into a heart at the top. Two rays came out from each side of the heart, and there was a small star in the center of the heart. It had an aqua blue tinge to it.

"So, Emily. What's you crest?" Matt had joined them.

Emily looked at Matt thoughtfully for a second, then said, "The Crest of Music."


	11. 11: Nice surprise

"Well, the vacations over." Emily looked at Joe who had spoken.

"Over?"

"Well, yeah. Now we're going to have to go romping through the woods again, looking for GAG, the Guardians of the Universe, and other hero-type stuff." Joe stuffed some towels into his bag.

"Yeah, the Guardians," Emily stepped out onto the balcony and looked out over the trees. It was surprisingly quiet outside. Almost suspiciously quiet.

"I hope you enjoyed your stay here. I'll make sure we all pray for your safety, Digidestined." Leomon shook Tai's hand.

"Thank you Leomon. I speak for all of us when I say we had a wonderful time." Tai smiled. Then he turned around. "Ok, so is everyone here? Are we all set to go?"

"Um, Tai?" Sora tapped Tai on the shoulder.

"What is it Sora?"

"Well, Joe and Emily aren't here."

"What? Well where are they?" Tai looked around the lobby wildly.

"Chill out Tai. They're still in their room packing." Matt got his usual irritated tone in his voice.

"Packing or making out?" Tai arched an eyebrow.

"Oh God, Tai! Stop acting so hormonal!" Sora whacked Tai across the back of his head. "I'm sure they'll be out in a minute."

"Emily, don't you think we should go now?" Joe zipped up his bag.

"Sure, Joe. I'll get over there in a se- Woah! What the heck's that?" Emily gaped up at the sky as a black spiral formed in the middle of a cloud. The spiral grew wider and wider, until something suddenly fell out and landed about 100 feet away from Emily's balcony, in the woods. She turned to Joe who was standing next to her. "Do you know what just happened?"

"Not a clue. Let's get down there and tell Tai and the others."

"I have a better idea. You go and tell the others and I'll go and see what fell out of that spiral thingy."

"But, shouldn't we go together? It could be dangerous!"

"Oh, Joe! Danger's my middle name! Well, actually, it's Jean, but that's not important."

"But it could be- Hey! Where are you going?"

"Just go get Tai and the others and bring them over to where that thing fell," Emily was climbing over the balcony. " That's where I'll be." She hopped into a tree nearby and slid down the trunk, then took off into the woods.

Tai was just about to send Kari up to see where Emily and Joe were, when Joe stumbled out of the elevator.

"Joe! There you are! Where's Emily?"

"Emily? Well, she kind of... ran off... into the woods." Joe said meekly.

"She ran off into the woods? Well that's just great! Just great! And would you mind explaining to me why she's out there?" Tai put his hands on his hips.

Sighing, Joe told him about the black spiral in the sky that had dropped something into the woods and how Emily decided to go investigate.

Tai was quiet for a second, then said, "Well, the only thing I think we can do is go out and meet her. Are all the humans ready?"

"Yeah!" the other Digi dsetined's held up their bags.

"Are all the digimon ready?"

"Uh huh." All the digimon nodded.

"Hey! Where's Candymon?" Gomamon looked around.

"Oh no! Not her too! She must be with Emily! Let's go! "

"Good bye Leomon! Thank you for the great time at the Digimon hotel!" They all screamed as they raced out the door to where Joe said the thing had landed.

Meanwhile... "Hey! Emily!"

"Aaaah! Oh, Candymon! It's only you! You scared me!"

"Really? I scared you? Cool!" Candymon smiled evilly.

"Oh, shut up! How did you find me?"

"I saw you jump over the balcony, so I followed you."

"Great. Now you're starting to take after me! Let's go find that thing that fell out from the sky, ok?"

A few feet ahead, Emily thought she saw a figure laying on the ground. As they got closer, she saw that it was a person. "I've heard of raining cats and dogs, but this is ridiculous!" Emily shook her head. "Come on, let's get a closer look."

The person was, in fact, a girl Emily's age and Emily felt that she looked vaguely familiar. 

The girl groaned and looked up at Emily with big blue eyes. "Where am I? What happened?" She stood up and studied Emily. Emily studied her. She was a little bit shorter than Emily, with shoulder length blonde hair, fair skin, and a few freckles that ran along her cheeks. She was wearing a white baseball-t with sleeves that went down to the elbows and had a black paw print in the middle of it, blue jean flares, and white sneakers. Compared to Emily, they were total opposites.

Then the girl spoke, "E- Emily? Is that you?"

"Katie!?" Emily stared in bewilderment at her.

"Emily!" The two friends threw their arms around each other in their happiness.

"Uh, Emily?" Candymon felt left out.

Katie looked down at her, "Ah! What's that?"

"I'm Candymon, pleased to meet you. And you are...?"

"K-Katie!"

"Katie?" Candymon looked at Emily. "Is this the one you're always talking about?"

"One and the same." Emily smiled. "It's so good to see you Katie! What are you doing here?"

"What am I doing here? I wanna know how I go there. And where the heck am I?"

"Well, you're in the Digiworld."

"Digi what?"

"The Digi world, ya know, digital world?"

"So where's that supposed to be? A new place at Disneyland? What, do they have digital teacup rides and digital Mickey Mouse souvenirs?"

"Uh, no."

"Teacup rides? Mickey Mouse? What's she talking about, Emily?"

"I'll tell you later." Emily grabbed Katie's arm. "Come on, Katie. I might as well take you to meet the others."

"The others? What are you talking about, Emily?"

"Well, let me put it this way. Where were you before you ended up here?"

"I was uh, taking a break from practice. Ya know, taking a walk."

"Katie, you weren't really doing that, were you?"

"Fine! I had just hung up from talking to Jesse. I got a little, um, upset, and-"

"A little upset? Come on Katie! I've known you since we were three! I know it takes more than '' little upset' to make you leave practice."

"Fine! He broke up with me! Jesse dumped me, ok? He said- "She looked down, "He said that he'd rather date a fan of GQ than date a member. He said I wasn't there for him! Can you believe that?"

"What! That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard! You were paying for his rent! You bailed him out of jail 3 times! The only reason he's gotten anywhere in this world is because you were there for him! Ugh! I can't believe him!"

"Yeah, well, maybe it's all for the best. Now we'll have some extra spending money!"

"All riiiight!" They high-fived each other. "But, now maybe we should get back to what we were talking about. You say you left the theater?"

"Well, yeah.. I was pretty upset. I had just stepped outside, when this thing fell out of the sky." She held out a digi-vice. "Then everything went black, and here I am!"

"Hmmm, that sounds like what happened with me. Except I landed in a tree that Candymon was eating in. She's my digimon."

"Ok, this whole digi fetish is starting to get weird. Can you explain this better?"

"Well, when we get back to the others, I'll have Izzy explain as much as possible to you. But put it this way, since you've got one of these," Emily pointed to her digi vice. "You have a digimon that protects you while you're in the Digiworld. Like Candymon here." Emily motioned to Candymon who smiled proudly.

"So where's my digimon then?" Katie put her hands on her hips and looked around.

"Did some one call me?" Emily and Katie turned to see a small digimon hop out from a tall patch of grass. It looked like a small yellow rabbit with an even lighter yellow fluffy tail, deep violet eyes and a tiny pink nose.

"Guys, er, I mean, ladies," Candymon stepped forward, "Meet Bunnymon, an old friend of mine."

"Aw, how cute!" Katie bent down and picked up Bunnymon.

"You aren't bad looking either, Katie!" Katie practically dropped Bunnymon.

"How did you know my name?"

"I'm your digimon!" Bunnymon nuzzled Katie a little.

"Well, this is great. Let's go tell Tai we've got company." Emily grabbed Katie's hand and started to guide her back towards the hotel, when Joe and Tai suddenly appeared.

"It landed right over here Tai, see?" Joe was pointing to where Katie was standing with Bunnymon.

"Joe! Boy am I glad to see you!" Emily ran over and hugged Joe.

"Huh? Emily! Did you find out what fell out of that spiral?" The rest of the Digi destined appeared behind Tai who was yelling at Agumon for stealing the bed sheets from the hotel.

"Oh yeah! Meet Katie!" Emily dragged Joe over to Katie who was clutching onto Bunnymon in fear. "Katie, this is Joe and Gomamon."

"Hey." Katie smiled nervously. Kari stepped out of the crowd with Gatomon.

"Hi! I'm Kari! You must be the 10th child! This is Gatomon!"

"Hi. I'm Katie!" Katie smiled.

"Bunnymon!" Gatomon looked up at Katie's digimon who hopped out of her arms to get a better look at Gatomon.

"Gatomon! I haven't seen you since, I don't know when!" The two digimon hugged. "I didn't know you have been reunited with Candymon, either. This is great, the three of us all together again!" 

Candymon joined them as the other Digi destineds introduced themselves to Katie. Bunnymon looked over at Emily and Kari. "Do they know yet?"

"No. There hasn't been a lot of time lately. We just finished with our mini vacation. Maybe now, we'll be able to let them know about the three of us." Gatomon smiled happily.

"Hey! How'd this get in here?" Katie looked in her purse and pulled out a tag with it's crest already in it.

"Oh, that's a tag. Now you need to find the crest that goes with it, so Bunnymon can go to her- Hey! No fair! You already have yours!"

"So?"

"I had to wait for mine. It was in a fountain." Emily was annoyed.

"Hey! Let me see!" Matt reached out to take Katie's tag and crest. At that exact same time, Gabumon tripped on a rock and slammed into Matt. Matt fell forward, throwing his arms around Katie as he tried to maintain his balance.

"Are you ok?" Katie helped Matt back to his feet.

"Oh, sorry." Matt blushed as he pulled his arms off of Katie.

"It's ok." Katie blushed a little, too. "Are you sure you're ok?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. Hey! You have this too!" Matt held up a credit card, similar to Emily's, except that hers read N'SYNC.

"Don't you remember, Matt? Katie has the power to transform too. She's in our band GQ." Emily looked around, "Where's my guitar case? I didn't leave it at the- oh! Thanks Joe!" Joe handed Emily her guitar case. She dug round in it and pulled out the picture of her band.

"Oh yeah! That's her right there with the keyboard, right?" Matt handed the picture back.

"You take that thing every where, don't you?" Katie eyed Emily's guitar.

"How do you explain this? Hmmm?" Emily picked up a flat, rectangular case.

"Hey! Be careful with that!" Katie tried to grab it away from Emily.

"Ah ha! I take my guitar everywhere, and you brought THIS!" Emily opened up the case and pulled out a thin, guitar shaped object that had piano keys on it.

"Emily! Put my key board down!" Katie grabbed it away from Emily and put it away.

"So Katie, is you digimon like Emily's? Does she go from in-training to rookie to Ultimate?" Matt looked the two digimon.

"I do not!" Candymon and Bunnymon both yelled at the same time. "What weirdo told you that?"

"Gennai did."

"Well, personally, I think Gennai's a little whacked." Candymon rolled her eyes. "He probably assumed that we only digivolved twice because, well, There aren't any other digimon like us around. We're hard to track. I'm in my rookie form, actually. I don't know why he thought I'd be in my in-training form. Bunnymon's in her rookie form too. Emily already saw my Champion form, Goobermon."

"So you do have other forms." Tai and Izzy joined the conversation.

"Yeah, before this, I was Moyamon, and before that, I was Minamon."

"And before I was this, I was Mikumon, and before that, I was Colamon." Bunnymon and Candymon smiled, proud that they could remember all this.

"Very curious." Izzy stared at the two digimon. 

"This stupid thing just keeps getting more and more complicated!" Matt sighed. "First we get the 9th child, then we find out about GAG, then we find out that Emily's a super hero," Katie coughed. "Emily _and _Katie are super heroes, then we find out GAG has some weirdo's called the Guardians of the Universe, then we find the-"

"The Guardians? What's happened to them! Emily, what happened to the Guardians?" Katie panicked.

"GAG has them." Emily looked down.

"Who?"

"Look, I'll explain later. But I think you should know this before anything else. Take out your card." Katie took out her transformations card. "Now transform into CATastrophe."

"Here? With all these people around?"

"They already know. Don't worry. Now transform."

"Ok," Katie sighed and held out her card. "N'SYNC!" Her card glowed, then faded. Nothing happened. "What? I'll try again! N'SY-"

"Katie! Don't! There's nothing you can do right now. The guardians have been taken from Orgisian and put in a force field. The force field keeps their power from flowing out and letting us transform. Even Betsy on Earth can't transform."

"What? How do you know all this?"

"Laurence talked to me telepathically. She told me."

"Hey! How come She always contacts you and not me?" Katie stamped her foot.

"Because I'm the leader. Godiva was the leader, remember? And who had her spirit? Me!"

"I smell a cat fight," muttered Tai, as Emily and Katie stared at each other in disbelief. 

"Oh shut up, Tai!" Both girls turned angrily to him.

"Just kidding! Just kidding!" Tai slowly backed away and backed up into Gatomon.

"Did I just hear you make a cat slur, Tai? Because if you did..." Her claws glistened.

"Oh, me? Well I, Uh... Heh heh..." Tai slowly turned around. "I think now's a good time for me to...RUN AND HIDE BEHIND SORA!!!"

"And I think that's about all of it!" Izzy closed his laptop and looked at Katie. "So did you understand what I was saying?" He, Tai, Emily, and Tentomon had spent the last two hours explaining to Katie about the digivolviing process, the use of the tags, the digivice, their adventures battling Devimon, Etemon, and Myotismon, and the reason that they had been chosen as the Digi destineds.

"Well, most of it. I can't believe I forgot about that night at Heighten View Terrace!" Katie stroked Bunnymon's fur as she spoke.

Joe sat next to Emily. Half awake, and half asleep, he gazed at Emily through his soulful eyes. _We're together. We're finally together. We're going to be happy. Everything will be all right. She'll save the Guardians, we'll defeat GAG and save the other digimon, and then we'll do what ever we want. Who knows? Maybe we'll all stay here for a while at the Digimon Hotel again. Or maybe we'll go back home... Whatever we do, we'll be happy... so happy._ Joe's eyes slowly allowed themselves to shut. He felt Emily's gentle arm pull him closer to her. He allowed for himself to be lowered into her arms as her voice continued to laugh with Katie's as they talked about their adventures as the GQ. Her fingers gently entwined themselves through his hair as she continued to speak. As sleep began to engulf him, a thought ran through his head. 

He saw Emily and Katie standing with Candymon and Bunnymon. Then, suddenly, Emily and Katie looked different, more super hero-ish. Then Kari and Gatomon joined then. She too, changed, becoming taller, and older looking. Katie looked at Kari, "You're sure you didn't hurt yourself?" Kari shook her head and smiled as Katie's crest began to glow. "Concern." She whispered.

Kari looked at Emily. She smiled at her brightly. "I'm so glad that you're happy, and not leaving the Digi destineds. I really like you!" Her crest began to glow. "Light." She whispered.

Emily looked at Katie, "Your song. You start it, then it stops. Please tell me what's wrong. I can't stand it when you're upset. You break my heart when your song won't play." Emily's crest began to glow. "Music.' She whispered.

Suddenly, beams of light, like the ones that had held down VenomMyotismon, appeared. They connected to each other in a triangle around the three digimon. Katie and Emily's digivices' glowed and Candymon and Bunnymon went to their champion level. The light of the crests grew stronger, and the three girls joined hands. Then, they each began to recite something that sounded like a combination of a pact and a spell:

"Let me guard, let me go.

Let my (music/ light/ concern) take me higher.

Let my (music/ light/ concern) unleash the true ones within.

Let her truth shine through!"

A bright flash of light filled the triangle, swallowing the digimon, then spreading out and swallowing Emily, Katie and Kari as well. Then, six shadows began to appear in the light. Suddenly, another flash of light covered everything, and a soft, yet commanding voice spoke. "You, the one they call Joe. The one who is loved by Godiva. You will not be the one who harms her. He is gone. You will remember nothing of what you have just seen until the right time. Now return to your sleep. I know that you will want to wake soon in Godiva's arms." Blackness began to fall over the light. Sleep began to hit again. "Remember nothing until the right time." 

While the others talked, and TK and Kari lay asleep next to Tai and Matt, Joe stirred in his sleep. Emily gently stroked his face, then looked away. "Joe, your song..."

The sleeping Joe smiled, and silently murmured "Laurence and the Guardians."


	12. 12: Anythign but anything

"Two, four, six, eight! Who do we appreciate?"

"Tai! Tai! Gooooo-"

"Ew! No way! Matt!"

"No way! Not even! You're messing it all up!" Emily and Sora put their hands on their hips and glared at Mimi and Katie. Earlier that day, Matt and Tai had decided to have an arm wrestling match. All the girls except Kari volunteered to be cheer leaders. Actually, both Kari and TK had wanted to be cheerleaders, but both brothers wouldn't allow it. Matt didn't want TK stooping to a girl's level and Tai didn't think it would be right to have his sister cheering for him like that. So it was up to the other four girls to cheer each boy on. Unfortunately, Emily couldn't resist interrupting Katie's cheers and messing them up. This caused Katie to interrupt Emily several times, herself.

"Ok! I've got a good cheer!" Emily jumped next to Tai a yelled out, "Who are- who are- who are we? We're the class of '03! No, wait! That's not right!"

"Geeze Emily! You sounded like you got a little lost right there!" Katie giggled.

"Watch a professional!" Mimi hopped beside Matt and pushed her cow-boy hat to the side a little bit. Then she shouted, "Bang! Bang! Choo- choo train! Come on Matt and do your thang! Auoo! * clap clap clap* Auoo! * clap clap clap clap* Goooo Matt!"

Emily rolled her eyes. Sora nudged her and they smiled at each other. Then they both went next to Tai and yelled "This guy right here is Tai! And he's gonna rock this match to a victory! Hold up, wait a minute! Put a little boom in it. Boom! Let's fire it up! Boom boom! Let's fire it up! Boom boom boom! Let's fire it up! Boom boom! Let's fire it up!"

"Hmmm. You got me beat on that one." Katie and Mimi nodded in approval of Emily and Sora's cheerleading skills.

"Are you girls still cheerleading? We finished the match two minutes ago!" Tai said, jumping behind Sora, lifting her up off the ground, and twirling her through the air.

"Tai! Ah! Tai! Put me down!" Sora laughed.

Mimi turned to Izzy. "How come you never spin me around like that, Izzy? Huh?"

"Me? Well, um... how do I put this?" Izzy looked up at Mimi who towered over him. "You're a little... well, big for me to pick up."

"Big? Are you calling me fat?" Mimi almost shouted.

"No! I was just-" Izzy stammered.

"I think what Izzy was trying to say," Sora and Tai joined them. "was that you're taller than him, Mimi. I think it would be awkward for him to lift you off the ground without you two ending up in a weird position."

"Oh." Mimi blushed. "Well, I wouldn't want anything like that to happen, would I?"

"Chain chain chaaain. Chain chain chaaaain. Hmm hmm chaaaaaai aaaai aaaaai aaai aaain. Chain of fools." Emily snapped her fingers as she looked around for her guitar case. "He told me to, leave him alone. My father said, 'she can come on home!'. My doctor said-"

" 'Take it easy!' Oh my lovin' was much too strong!" Katie cut in. "You never do stop singing, do you?"

"There's nothing wrong with that. Especially since I'm the lead singer."

"Yeah, well I'm the other singer! So that means I can sing too!"

"Fine! Be my guest!" Emily walked over to Joe, Candymon, and Gomamon, who were sitting on her guitar case. "Ahem."

They looked up at Emily, then stood up so that she could get her guitar out. In the meantime, Katie went and got out her keyboard. Then the two girls sat across from each other on logs and waited. "What should we sing? Something from our tour?"

"Yeah! Like from the 'Inspirations segment!' "

"Inspirations segment? What's that?" Kari looked at them curiously.

"That was a part of our tour where we did a tribute to our inspirations. You know, sing a couple of their songs and stuff."

"Wow!" Kari smiled. "Maybe, someday, I'll be able to be a GQ!"

"Hey! You never know!" Emily smiled at her, then looked at Katie. "How about Janis Ian?"

"Nah. I think 'At Seventeen' might depress us. Tina Turner?"

"Nope. We had a synthesizer for half her sings, remember? How about the Carpenters?"

"Yeah! I love those guys!"

"Which song? 'We've only just Begun'?"

"Sounds good to me. Ready?"

"Hold on." The girls adjusted their instrument straps, then began to play, with Emily singing lead. "We've only just begun to live. White lace and promises. A kiss for luck and we're on our way."

"We've only begun."

"Before the rising sun we fly."

"So many roads to chose. We start out walking-"

"And learn to ruuuuun."

"And yet we've just beguuuuu uuu uun"

"Sharing horizons that are new to us. Watching for signs along the way."

"Talking it over, just the two of us."

"Working together day to daaaaaay."

"Together. And when the evening comes, we smile."

"So much of life ahead. We'll find a place where there's room to grow."

"And yet we've just beguuuu uuu uuun."

"Sharing horizons that are new to us. Watching for signs along the way."

"Talking it over, just the two of us."

"Working together day to daaaaaay."

"Together. And when the evening comes, we smile."

"So much of life ahead. We'll find a place where there's room to grow."

"And Yet we've just beguuuuuuu uuuuun."

"And yes we've just beguuuun."

Emily and Katie sang the last line together, "And yet we've just beguuuuuun"

"Beautiful. Good job, Katie!" Emily smiled.

"Why thank you Emily! You were quite good yourself!" They shook hands. "Um, is it just me, of is it unusually quiet?"

They looked around to see all the other Digidestined starring at them in astonished silence. "Uh, does this mean you didn't like it?" Emily eyed Tai whose head was cocked to one side as he stared.

"Helloooooooo? Matt?" Katie stared at Matt, who shushed her. "Huh? What are you loo- oh!"

"What! What is it?" Emily spun around to see what everyone was staring at. Joe slowly brought his hand out and pointed to some near by bushes.

A small creature trembled under a branch. It's shiny black nose twitched and it's black eyes glistened in fear. Bunnymon took a step towards it, but it backed away. 

"Come on out! We won't hurt you, unless you're involved with GAG, of course." Gatomon semi-coaxed. At the mention of GAG, the small creature shrunk down a little bit and swung it's long fluffy tail in front of it, as if to protect itself.

"Aw! It's so adorable!" Mimi bent down. "C'mere you! Mimi won't hurt you! Come on..." She smiled and held out her fingers.

The creature looked up cautiously. "Eee?" It's tail twitched and it stepped forward slowly to sniff at Mimi.

"Oh! That tickles!" She giggled. "You're a strange looking Digimon, aren't you?"

Izzy typed rapidly on his laptop, then looked up. "I don't believe this! Technically, this isn't even a Digimon at all! It doesn't even analyze on the identifier as anything!" He looked over the laptop. "What are you? Hmm?"

"Eee. Eevee vee eev ee vee eev eevee ee." The creature looked around.

"Um, does anyone know what it just said?" Matt looked at Gatomon. "You're a cat. Didn't it just make a cat noise or something?"

"I'll have you know it didn't!" Gatomon said indignantly. "I think I'd know when something was meowing!"

"Well whatever it is, it's not a Digimon. If it was, it would be in it's baby form, but it's too big to be that." Candymon eyed the size of the creature.

"Hmm. I wonder why it got so afraid when we mentioned GAG?" The creature's ears pricked, and it looked up at Emily sadly.

"Eevee. Ee vee vee ee. Vee?" 

"Aw! What's wrong? Why does the name- Wait a sec!"

"What is it?" Everyone turned to Emily.

"Don't you remember, Katie? Doesn't that noise sound familiar?"

"Hmm. What did you say again?" Katie looked down at the creature questioningly.

"Eevee. Ee vee vee ee." It cocked it's head to the side.

"Eevee... Eevee...Eevee...hmmm" Katie and Emily were silent for a minute. Then suddenly, "That's it!"

"The Pokefreak! That's it!" Katie jumped up and down.

"The Pokewhat?" All the other Digidestined gawked.

"The Pokefreak. He was this guy who hypnotized people by shooting these things called Pokemon out of his shirt. Who ever saw them would be hypnotized by their cuteness. I think he shot one of these at us. What was it called again? Quick! Izzy, give me your laptop!"

Emily rapidly logged onto the Internet and typed in pokemon.com. Just as she suspected, there was a icon that read 'Pokemon guide'. Emily hit 'download' and sat back for a second. "When this is done, I can hook it into your Digimon analyzer, and it'll tell us what this is." She explained. "Oh! Done!" She typed for a second, then took out her digivice. "Point that at that thing, would ya?" She handed her digivice to Kari who obeyed, then handed it back. "Ok. Now let's see..." Emily, who had watched Izzy use his analyzer several times, clicked the keyboard. Suddenly, an image appeared.

"Ah ha! This is called an Eevee. It's attacks are tail whip, bite, and take-down."

"Hmm. Odd, I didn't know there were things other than Digimon here." Sora looked curiously at the Eevee. "I still wish that we could understand what it was saying, thought. I don't think any of us speak Eevee, even the digimon. They speak the same language as we do."

"That's not entirely true Sora." Izzy took his laptop back from Emily. "When Tentomon de-digivolved into Pabumon, the only sounds he could communicate with was similar to the Eevee's, except that he said 'pabu' instead of 'eevee'. I'm guessing that other digimon could understand what Pabumon said. Is this possible?" He turned to the Digimon.

"Well, yeah Izzy. How do you think the seven of us communicated before we digivolved into our in-training forms?" Agumon motioned to the others.

"I rest my point." Izzy looked at the Eevee who was being petted by Kari. "Now if we could just de-digivolve one of the Digimon into their fresh stage, we could try to get the Eevee to communicate with them, then they could relay it to one of the other Digimon and they could tell us." Izzy stopped to take a breath.

"But Izzy, in order to do that, one of us would have to de-digivolve. You know how much that take out of us." Palmon tugged at Izzy's sleeve.

"Yes. It was just an idea. I would want to put the Digimon's lives in danger." Izzy sighed and looked back at the Eevee. "I guess we'll just have to find some other way of communicating, then."

"Too bad it's not a cat." All eyes jumped to Katie. "The side effect of my super power is that I can talk telepathically with cats." Everyone sighed. Things were starting to get frustrating.

"I'll do it." Tentomon stood up.

"What? You can't be serious!" Izzy grabbed Tentomon to try to shake some sense into him.

"Izzy, I have a feeling that this Eevee knows things that will be useful to us. Please, it's the only way. Besides, I'm only one digimon, you'll still have the others around to protect you while I'm de-digivolved."

"Tentomon, are you really willing to do this?" Sora looked at Izzy, then Tentomon.

"I've got to. It's the only way."

"Tentomon!" Izzy got tears in his eyes and reached forwards to pull his digimon into a hug. "Be careful buddy," he whispered.


	13. 13: He's a good boy

Everyone silently watched as Tentomon stood in the center of everyone, then kneeled on the ground. "Izzy, I know this is going to be hard, but I need you to tell me you hate me."

"What? No way!" Izzy looked at Tentomon in horror. "There's no way I could ever hate you! You're my best friend!"

"Izzy, you have to find just the slightest thing that you could hate me for. Please. I need to be able to de-digivolve."

"But Tentomon-" Izzy choked back a sob, then felt the gentle touch of Mimi's hand on his.

"Izzy, please. You know you've got to."

"Izzy, I can hear your song. And songs can change. You've only got to change your song long enough for the de-digivolution to take place, then you can change it back, and things will be fine." Emily smiled reassuringly at Izzy.

"I- I hate you." Izzy stuttered at his digimon. "I hate you!" He said louder. "I hate that you're making me do this! I hate that you had to be the one to volunteer for this and not someone else! I hate you! I hate that you're making me hurt you and myself at the same time!" Izzy's face flushed and tears trickled from his eyes.

"His song..." Emily looked away.

"I hate you!" Izzy cried. Mimi tried to take him in her arms, but he pushed her away. "No! I hate him!" He flung his arm at Tentomon. "Look what he's making me do! I hate him! He's making him hurt both of us! I hate him!" He sank to his knees. "I hate him!"

A flash changed Tentomon to Montimon. "I hate him! You hear me? I hate you!"

Montimon became Pabumon. "I hate... I hate..." Izzy's eyes were red with tears. "Pabumon!" Izzy fell to the ground crying. "I don't hate you! I don't! I'm so sorry I had to tell you that. I don't hate you!"

"Pabu pabu pabu." Pabumon nuzzled Izzy's hand and allowed the tearful Izzy to scoop him up and hug him. "Pabu pabu pabu. Pabu pabu pabu pabu pabu."

"He says he accepts you apology and that he's glad you're all right, but we need to get down to business so that we can talk to the Eevee." Bunnymon translated.

"Of course." Izzy wiped away his tears and placed Pabumon down next to the Eevee. "Go on, Pabumon. Let's take care of business."

Pabumon hopped closer to the Eevee. "Pabu pabu pabu pabu. Pabu pabu pabu. Pabu pabu. Pabu?"

"He's telling it what's going to happen since we don't understand what it says." Gatomon whispered.

"Eevee? Ee ee vee ee vee vee." The Eevee swished it's tail and sat up straighter.

"Pabu. Pabu pabu pabu pabu pabu pabu." Pabumon turned and translated.

"It's agreed to it." Gabumon translated. "It's ready to start when ever we are."

What happened next filled the air with 'eevee's and 'pabu's as the language between the Pokemon, the digimon, and the humans was translated into the story that was behind the Eevee:

I come from a land quite like yours. A land called Pokemon Island There are humans and Pokemon. I have learned that this land hold creatures like yourselves called Digimon, which are quite similar to us, except that you are able to evolve backwards and are able to use your attacks without being commanded by your trainer. Besides that, you can speak another language other than your own. A language that I am familiar with, but am unable to speak, myself. The only other things that understand me are the other Pokemon and my trainer.

My trainer is a boy they call Gary Oak. His grandfather, a professor, gave me to him as a gift to help him start on his journey to become a Pokemon master. It's been explained to me that there are trainers who go out and train Pokemon for protection or other reasons. If a person has trained every type of Pokemon possible, then they are Pokemon masters. It was always Gary's grandfather's dream that Gary become a Pokemon master, since he, himself had never been able to accomplish it.

Before Gary met me, I would sit in the window of the professor's laboratory and watch him play. He was a good boy. Always willing to help his family. He was friends with a boy named Ash Ketchum at the time. They always were together, playing, talking, laughing. From my window, I dreamed of the day that I would be given to Gary so that he could take me out with him. So that I could play with him and Ash, share their laughter and sorrows. I waited and wished with all my heart to be part of Gary's life. I watched as Gary slowly became more and more distant with Ash and wished that I could be there to ask him why.

Then the day came. The professor placed me and three other Pokemon into pokeballs, which are small objects that are used to hold Pokemon when they aren't in use, and then called Ash and Gary over to his house.

I remember that my heart was racing with excitement. I couldn't wait for Gary to open his pokeball and let me out so that I could jump into his arms and gaze into the handsome face I'd watched for so long from too far away. I wished that the professor would stop telling them about his dream of becoming a Pokemon master and just let them get their Pokemon. Finally I felt my ball being lifted and being held out. I smiled happily. Then I heard, "Here Ash. This one's for you." I couldn't be going to Ash! I was supposed to be for Gary! I cried out 'no! no! I'm Gary's!' but I knew no one could hear me. I dreaded the moment Ash would open his pokeball and claim me as his.

Then I suddenly felt a jerking motion as I was grabbed away from the professor's hands. I heard Ash cry out "Hey!" and then I heard Gary laugh. "Don't worry, little one. This is the last time they're going to keep you locked up in one of these." I heard the smooth alto of Gary's voice slide through the walls of my pokeball. Then I felt myself being released from the pokeball, and found myself standing in front of a tall boy with auburn hair, brown eyes, a rich violet shirt, black pants and boots. He smiled down at me. "I want this one Gramps." he said softly. "I want the Eevee. Please?" We both looked at the professor who shrugged and agreed. He gave Ash a Pikachu instead and sent us out to go make him proud.

As the days passed, Gary and I bonded, just like I had hoped. I learned that, while he wanted to make his grandfather happy, he thought it was cruel to have Pokemon locked up in balls only to be let out when they were needed to battle and had vowed to let his Pokemon be free once they would obey him. He soon learned that this wasn't a good idea, and kept all of his Pokemon besides me, in pokeballs. At night, we would sit by campfires together, and he would tell me of the times he and Ash had together before they had begun the journey. He never revealed why they grew so distant. But I didn't mind, I was just happy to finally be with him. 

The days and months came and went. My powers became stronger and I was always by Gary's side. He caught other Eevees, but used stones to evolve them into different variations. He told me that he could never bear to evolve me from what I was, and that was why I was as strong as the evolutions of the other Eevees. The relationship between Pokemon and trainer grew into something much more, and there were times when I wished that I were a human like he was, so that he could love me like I loved him. 

He was a good boy. A boy that was my trainer and a boy that I loved. Then it happened. One night, a darkness appeared in the sky and shot down towards me. I was so afraid that I froze and couldn't move. Gary called out my name and then dove to push me out of the way. The darkness struck him and knocked him out for hours. When he finally came to, he wasn't hurt, but he began acting differently. Instead of roaming the land, searching for Pokemon and being free, he obsession became showing up Ash. He hired girls to cheer for him, then began forcing all his Pokemon to fight in matches held in towns. He always make me fight the most, then carelessly would leave me with one of his cheerleaders as he collected his prize. 

Gary had definitely changed for the worse, and no one could figure out why or how. Then, about a month ago, a storm suddenly swept his car up with me, his Pokemon, and all his cheerleaders and brought us here. Then, as if he had planned the whole thing, he began catching what he called "rare Pokemon" in pokeballs. I spoke to some of them at one time, and that was how I discovered that you were called Digimon. I also witnessed several digimon escape from the pokeballs by doing what you call digi-volving. I don't know what to do about Gary, though. All he does is sit, waiting for a digimon to walk by. Then he either throws a pokeball at it or send out one of his Pokemon to weaken it so he can catch it. I managed to escape and came out looking for the help of the ones they call the Digi destined. Several Digimon told me that you could help me since you'd already ridden this place of two villains already. The problem is that Gary's not evil, he's a good boy. Something just happened to him, that's all. 

Please, to save your world and the other Pokemon, please say you'll help bring him back to normal. If not for him, then do it for me. The two of us shared a love that can never be replaced. I want my Gary back. Please. I want him back.


	14. 14: From one GAG to the next

Emily looked at the Eevee thoughtfully. "You really loved him, didn't you?"

"Vee." It bowed it's head sadly.

"Hmm. Well our first intent was going to be to defeat him." The Eevee shot a disdainful look at Izzy who had spoken.

"But I think that your story's changed it all. We're going to have to find a way to bring him back to normal." Sora looked at everyone. "So how does that sound everyone? Tomorrow morning, we'll go look for the GAG fortress and try and give this Eevee her Gary back. Ok?"

"Sure." Everyone shrugged.

"By, the way, can you take us to see Gary?" Sora looked at the Eevee, realizing the present opportunity.

"Eevee. Vee vee eevee ee vee." It cowered a little bit and looked at Emily, then Tai, then Katie, Sora, Matt, Izzy, Tk, Kari and Mimi. "Ee eevee vee vee ee vee vee."

"Pabu pabu. Pabu pabu pabu pabu." Pabumon translated. "Pabu pabu pabu pabu pabu."

"It said that it's afraid to go back there, but it has confidence in the Digidestined, so it's willing to take us there tomorrow morning." Gabumon translated yet again.

"Ok, you hear that everyone? We're shipping out tomorrow, so everyone get a good night's sleep, ok?"

"Yes! Now I can get some beauty sleep!" Mimi threw her arms around Izzy, almost knocking him over.

Emily sighed and looked through the darkness. All these Digidestined, her friends. And tomorrow they were going to help her and Katie rescue the Guardians of the Universe. She sank down on the ground next to Katie, who was still awake. "Are you ok?" Katie looked at her with concern.

"Oh I'm ok. I was just thinking about how we're going to finally get to save the Guardians. And once we get within range of their power, we'll be able to transform. You can be CATastrophe and I can be Gold Card again."

"Yeah, great." Katie looked off into space.

"You don't sound as excited as I thought you would."

"Well, I was kind of enjoying the time away from being a super-hero. It was kind of like a vacation. Before we got our powers, I hated mopping the kitchen and cleaning the house. Now I love to do it because I do it so little."

"Laurence told me that we've always had the power NOT to transform. We don't have to be so committed you know."

"Yeah I guess you're right. We deserve a break, don't we? I'm only worried about Betsy, back at home. I'll bet she's wracking her brains out trying to figure out why she can't transform."

"No, Laurence contacted her. She's just relying on us to free the Guardian's power again."

"Oh. Hey, Emily?"

"Yeah?"

"It's going to be different, fighting alone like this, isn't it?"

"Alone? What do you mean? We've got the others with us, their digimon and Candy and Bunny. I wouldn't call that alone!"

"No, I mean how there's only going to be US. The GQ. I'm so used to hearing Star Wars, N'SYNC, and Korn together. It's going to be a lot different with only two of us."

"Yeah I guess you're right." Emily smiled. "But don't worry about it! We've got more than enough help here with our new friends. And speaking if which, you've seemed to have gotten over Jesse pretty fast."

"Yeah, he was a jerk, wasn't he? I just stopped thinking about him."

"No no! Not that way! I mean you and Matt! You two seem to be getting along pretty well hmmm?" Emily nudged Katie.

"You shut up, Emily Jean Uchida! You know perfectly well we only just met two days ago!" Katie slapped Emily's arm.

"Hmph! Saying my full name, eh Katie Beatrice Wells? Oooh I'm petrified!" Emily poked Katie, "Now shut up so I can get some sleep."

"Shut up? You want me to shut up?" Katie threw a fistful of dirt on Emily.

"Geeze. I'm sorry Ms. Anger Control Problems. Did you miss your medication again? Oh wait! Medications. Forgot to make it plural." Emily dusted herself off and then settled herself down again. She yawned. "Good night Katie."

"Night Emily."

Emily and Katie were only asleep for twenty minutes when someone nudged them in the stomach with a stick. "Emily! Katie! Wake up it's important!" It was Kari.

"Kari you'd better have a really good reason for waking me up." Katie smoothed away her bed-head.

"Well, I was asleep until I head this humming in the sky. There was this really pretty star out there and then, it started falling out of the sky. It landed a few feet away from Gatomon and so she went to check it out. And then she brought it back to me and, well I thought maybe you'd know what it was…" She held out a credit card.

"What the- let me see that!" Emily grabbed the credit card from Kari. She studied it for a few seconds, then looked up. "Katie," Emily squeaked. "This is Betsy's transformation card."

"What's it doing here?" Katie looked at it.

"Oh I wanna see it again!" Kari snatched it from Katie. "How come it says Korn on it?" The card started to glow, then stopped. For a brief second, Kari glowed with it.

"Did you just see what I did?" Emily looked shocked.

"I- I thought only Betsy could make it glow. After all, it's her card and-" Suddenly, Katie stiffened and looked up. "Laurence? Really? Oh I see. Okay! Thanks!"

"What was that all about?" Emily dug through her pocket for her card.

"Laurence just contacted me telepathically." Katie smiled proudly. "She says that Modova temporarily left Betsy and went back into the card so that she could come down here to help. Since Kari's the one who read Betsy's card, she now has the spirit of Modova inside her."

"Huh? You mean I'm a GQ now?" Kari's eyes got big.

"Yup, you now have the power to transform into Madame Medusa. As soon as we're in range of the Guardian's power, all you'll have to do is hold out your card, yell Korn, and Zap! You'll transform. Good to have you on the team Kari!" Emily shook Kari's hand. The Katie did the same. 

"Now let's get some sleep. We've got a big day tomorrow so let's rest up. Goodnight ladies!"

"Good night!"

"Oh I was having a nice dream until you guys decided to wake me up!" Mimi grumbled as everyone trooped after Emily who was carrying Eevee. 

"Mmhmm." Izzy murmured, carrying his Digimon in his arms. Pabumon had digi-volved to Montimon over the night and Izzy had been more than overjoyed to see him. Now Montimon squirmed in his arms. "Izzy, I know you're glad to see me, but you're cutting the oxygen off to my lower-section!"

"Oh, sorry!" Izzy blushed and loosened his grip as the group approached a fork in the road.

"Okay Eevee. Which way do we go?" Emily gently ran her fingers over the top of Eevee's head. She hopped out of Emily's arms and scampered to the right, then ran back to Emily, who picked her up again. "So we go right?"

"Ee." Eevee nodded and everyone went right.

The path in the woods began to look more carved out as they walked. Bushes parted to reveal the dirt beneath, forming a path. Suddenly, Emily and Katie stopped. "They're close. I can feel it."

"Who are?" Tk hugged Patamon as everyone used the opportunity to rest.

"The Guardians. I'm starting too feel a little of my power come back." Emily clutched her transformation card. Katie did the same.

"Is that what I felt?" Kari looked up at the two girls and pulled out her card.

"Yes. Modova has sensed the power flowing from her body." Katie patted Kari. "Don't worry though. Transforming doesn't hurt. Now hold out your card to mine and Emily's"

Kari obeyed. The cards glowed brightly, but Emily shook her head. "No. We're not fully in range yet. If we were, then the royal symbol would appear on them."

"Oh." Kari and Katie sounded disappointed.

"Ee eevee!" Eevee put her paws on Emily's pant leg.

"Oh! We should go!" She scooped up Eevee and everyone started walking again.

"This path just seems to be getting more and more- AAAAHHHH!!!! What the heck IS that?" Katie yelled.

Everyone turned to see something that Izzy's new analyzer identified as a Hitmolee. "Eevee! Ee ee vee ee vee ee!" Eevee scampered excitedly over to it.

"Hit mo." It lowered it's large eyes. "Hit mo hit mo lee."

"Vee! Ee vee ee ee vee!" The excitement in Eevee's eyes turned to anger. "Ee vee ee vee vee ee vee!"

"Hit mo lee." It clenched a hand into a fist. "Hit mo…LEE!" It's foot shot out and kicked Eevee backwards into the air.

"Eevee!" Emily screeched as Candymon dove out and caught her in the nick of time.

Eevee glowered up at the Hitmolee. "Eee veeee," She said hatefully. "Ee eevee ee vee ee!"

It winced at her words, then looked away. "Hi-" It turned to look at the Digidestined tearfully. "Hit mo lee. Hit mo lee hit mo. HIT MO LEE!!" It sent an attack at the group. Everyone scattered, but Katie, who stood frozen in terror.

"Katie!" Emily tried to grab her but had to dodge another attack coming her way.

"KATIE!" Bunnymon screamed. The attack was only millimeters from Katie's face. "Bunnymon digivolve to Burimon!" There was a flash as Bunnymon rose to stand on her hind legs, which grew longer as she grew taller. Her long ears twisted together, forming a band with the tips of her ears hanging on opposite sides and her tail became very red and wrapped around her body to form a sort-of leotard than hung from one shoulder. "Super-sonic blast!" a large purple orb shot out of her hands and destroyed the hitmolee's attack.

"Pepper breath!" Agumon shot a flame at it, but it suddenly was sucked into the air and disappeared.

"Bunny! You digivolved!" Katie stuttered, looking at her digimon.

"Yeah. Pretty cool, huh?" Burimon hugged Katie. "Now let's hurry. I have the feeling that we'll be worse off when we get closer so stay close."

They walked on until they came upon a large grass hut with a smaller one next to it. Emily looked at the smaller hut. "The Guardians. We're in range."

"Should we…?" Katie held up her card.

"No. Not yet. Not until it's appropriate." She shook her head. Then she looked at Eevee. "Is he in there?"

"Vee." She lowered her eyes and shook her head. Then she looked at the larger hut. "Ee ee vee vee ee."

"Oh, he's in there, huh? Well, let's go then I guess." Eevee jumped out of Emily's arms and walked slowly in front of them. As they neared the hut they heard a loud voice cry out "Who's the best? Who's better than Ash? Who's gonna be the best?"

"Gary! Gary! He's our man! If he can't do it, no one can!" A chorus of girl's voices chimed out.

"Eeeee vee!" Eevee jumped and backed away slightly. Then she called out loudly "Ee vee ee!"

The cheering stopped and there was silence. Then a boy about Joe and Emily's age burst out of the hut. He had auburn hair, dark eyes and was wearing a purple shirt, black pants and boots. Eevee cowered as he spoke. "Ah, so now I get to meet these so called, 'digi destined.' They tell me I'll never get away with what I'm doing now that you're here. But I'd like to test that." He laughed a smooth-flowing laugh. "But before we begin, I'd like to thank you for returning my Eevee to me." Eevee cowered as he reached down and yanked her up by the scruff of the neck.

"Hey! Put her down!" Mimi cried out as Eevee helplessly struggled to get out of Gary's grasp.

"Ee vee ee…" Eevee turned her sad eyes to Gary. "Ee vee ee…"

Gary blinked and his eye twitched. Then he shook his head and dropped Eevee, who was scooped up by a red-headed cheer-leader who ran back into the hut. "You there in the pink get-up! Thanks for volunteering!" He pulled out a small red and white object. "Now what I have here is a test of strength. Let's try it shall we?" He suddenly turned and threw it at Palmon who was sucked into it.

"Palmon!" Mimi screamed. Staring at the object at her feet.

"Aw! So sad!" Gary laughed. "And you'll never guess what I have in store for the rest of you. Especially you six." He looked at Emily, Katie, Kari and their digimon.

"You've just made a serious mistake you bad-dressed creep! Palmon! Digivolve!"

"Palmon! Digivolve to Togemon!" Togemon burst out of the pokeball.

"Beat that Mr. Drab color!"

"Needle spray!" Gary held out his hand and the needles bounced harmlessly off of an invisible field. "What? It's not working!"

"Maybe you'll have to digi-"

"Oh, did I mention I came prepared?" Gary held up another object. "We call this a master-ball. I have plenty if you'd like to…SEE ONE!!!" He threw two of them; one at Togemon and another at Agumon. They were sucked in instantly.

"Hah! Agumon! Digivolve!" Tai shouted. Everyone stared anxiously at the thing at Tai's feet. Nothing happened. "Come on! Digivolve!" Still nothing.

"As you can see, this prevents your digimon from digivolving out. Nothing escapes a master ball." He chuckled as he casually tossed one at Biyomon.

"Biyo!" Sora cried.

"Not even a fully digivolved digimon can escape." Gabumon and Montimon were sucked into master balls. "Not even," Patamon disappeared into one too. "the strong ones." Gomamon fell off Joe's shoulder as he was sucked into a master-ball. 

"And now," He turned to Tai, Matt, Sora, Mimi, Izzy. Tk and Joe. "To rid myself of some excess baggage! Charmeleon go!" A red lizard that stood up to Gary's shoulder appeared. "Fire blast!"

A large flame shot out of the Charmeleon's mouth and flew towards the others. "Matt!" Cried Katie.

"Tk!" Yelled Kari.

"Joe!" Emily screamed. "No!!! Joe!!!" She jumped out in front of them.

"Emily!" Candymon screamed. "Candymon! Digivolve to Goobermon!" There was a flash as rainbow fur turned to shades of blue and the koala's size grew. She punched the flame just before it hit Emily, dissolving it into smithereens. "You wanna play with fire? Caffeine charge!" A blue flame shot at the Charmeleon who collapsed.

"Charmeleon! Return!" The Charmeleon disappeared, along with the others, leaving Emily, Katie, Kari, Goobermon, Burimon, and Gatomon alone with Gary.


	15. Epilogue: Teh guardians of two worlds; b...

"Ah yes. All three at your champion level. That was what the tablet said, wasn't it? 'All three at champion levels and all six shall bring power beyond imagination.'" He turned to Emily. "That's how it goes, right?"

"I don't know what you're talking about!" She glared at him.

"Hmm, Perhaps you should come with me then." He motioned for them to follow, and they had no other choice but to obey. They walked into the smaller hut, which contained nothing but a stairway leading down. They followed it until they entered a room at the end. "Welcome to my dungeon. It holds the conscious," He snapped his fingers and seven pokeballs appeared on a pedestal. "And the unconscious." He motioned to two cells on their right. One held the other Dig destined, the other held three girls who seemed to be in suspended animation. 

The girl to the left had short blonde hair held in two loose pigtails. She had a black stripe going down her nose. Her eyes were closed and her head bowed down. Her cheeks each had the shape of an hourglass on them. Katie had the exact same symbol on her transformation card. She looked very familiar. "Catalina!" Katie gasped.

The girl to the right had slate hair that framed her face, then suddenly curled at the ends into tight spirals. She had two jade orbs on the back of her head that had small back snakes burned on them. Three small half circles went down the slope of her nose. Her head was, also bowed and here eyes were closed. She had the symbol of a rising sun on each cheek. That symbol was also on Kari's transformation card. "I- is that…?" Kari stared. "Is that Modova?"

"Yes," Katie murmured. "She looks like Betsy and like you. You two are connected, just like Catalina is to me."

The girl in the center had long dark brown hair that hung over her shoulders. Seven gold spikes stuck out of the tiara on her bowed head. Two triangles pointed downward went down her nose. She had black lightning bolts on both cheeks and Emily had them on her transformation card. Her eyes were, also, closed. "She looks just like-" Kari almost yelled.

"Godiva." Emily closed her eyes and a tear ran down her cheek. Then she looked angrily at Gary. "Why are you doing this?"

"Isn't it obvious?" He ran a finger down Emily's hand, which she pulled away. "I want power. And this," He placed a large stone tablet in front of them. "This can give me power. You! The leader!" He pointed at Emily. "Come read one of Orgisian's tablets. I'm sure your Queen Laurence won't ever miss it."

Emily gritted her teeth as she looked down at the tablet before her. "There will always be the greater force. The great force will have power but will be alone in it's captor. And there will always the captor's captor. And there will always be the more greater forces. When all forces join, there is a power. All three at champion and all six shall bring power beyond imagination. The power shall be itself. Things must be. And the power shall forever be in it's being. The captor shall be, the power shall be. Let the power shine through and let the truth guide."

Joe opened his eyes and listened to Emily read. When he heard the last line, he thought of something. Do not remember. Do not remember what? And don't remember until when?

"Now, what should I do that would convince all of you to cooperate? I just need you girls to be at you champion level and things'll go fine. I can rule all the known worlds and you can go free under my rule." Gary tapped his fingers on the tablet.

"No." Emily growled.

"Oooh. Too bad!" He pushed a brick on the wall and the walls of the other Digidestined's prison cell began to close in. "Those walls are pure granite. Your friends will be flattened into a bloody pulp."

"You wouldn't!" Katie slammed her fist on the wall.

"I would!" Gary laughed.

"Emily!" Joe yelled, reaching through the bars. "Don't worry about me! Just do what you have to so you can be safe!"

"Joe!" Emily took his hand. "I won't let you die Joe!" She reached into her pocket and pulled out her card.

"Emily? Should we…?" Katie held out her card.

"We've got to! Star Wars!!"

"That's our signal Kari! Just read your card and hold still till you're done! N'SYNC!!"

"Gotcha! Korn!!"

There was a loud zap and the three figures of Katie, Emily and Kari were gone for an instant in a flash of light. Then they were there again, only different looking. Emily was wearing a blue spaghetti-strap midrift and a gold pleated skirt than was 9" above her knees. She had a blue visor over her eyes. Katie was wearing a pink halter top and a gold and black striped skirt that was, also, 9" above her knees. Kari had suddenly gotten a growth spurt and looked four years older, standing at Katie and Emily's height. She was wearing a green tanktop, a khaki skirt and a gold choker. The back of her head had two small coiled buns.

"Matt! Matt! It's just like Sailor Moon!" Yelped Tk.

Emily, who had now transformed into Gold Card, grabbed a piece of tissue from a pocket on Kari's skirt. She squeezed it until her hand glowed. She opened it to reveal a gold card. "Hang on Joe! Hang on you guy!" She threw it at the bars. It cut through them like butter and then disappeared as the bars clattered to the ground. Katie screamed at the top of her lungs, then flung her arms out in front of her. The walls of the cell blew up as the others ran out of it. "Kari! Close your eyes and repeat after me. Please get me the master-balls on the pedestal."

"Please get me the master-balls on the pedestal!!" Two snakes stuck their head out from behind Kari's head, then slithered through the air and returned with the seven master-balls. "So _that's_ why I'm Madame Medusa! Here you guys!" She tossed each digidestined a master-ball. "Hang onto them until we finish things up!"

"Finish things up? I'm sorry, but it's YOU who are finished!" Gary snapped his fingers and everyone was outside again. Only the smaller hut wasn't there. "I have no use for this disguise anymore!" A darkness rose out of Gary, who collapsed on the ground.

"Ee vee ee!" Eevee ran out of the hut and grabbed Gary by the shirt collar, tugging him away from where the ten Digidestined stood.

"I am VenomDevimon! The combined darkness of Devimon and Venom Myotismon! I used that boy's knowledge of capturing things to lure you here and then hold you all here with a clever power-hungry plot.. And now that I've got you all here, I'm going to destroy you all like I should have a long time ago!"

"And this time we don't have War Greymon, Metal Garurumon or Angemon to save us! Now what?" Cried Sora.

"This can't happen! They were dead! " Matt held Tk.

"Darkness envelope!" The darkness grew until it completely surrounded them all. Tai and Matt tried desperately to find a way out, while Mimi cried. Izzy shook but did his best to try to clam her down. Sora stood there in shock and Tk clung to her arm. "Yes, try to escape. The more you struggle, the more open to the darkness you are. And once you're over taken, nothing will stop me from destroying you." A horrid laugh echoed in the dark.

Joe tried desperately to see Emily in the dark. Do not remember until the right time. The right time! He suddenly remembered the vision he had the night Izzy and Emily had explained Digimon to Katie. He remembered it all! "Emily, Katie, Kari, Goobermon, Burimon, Gatomon! Can you hear me?"

"Joe? We're all together. We can hear you." It was Emily's voice.

"Emily! I need you to try something. Laurence came to me in a dream the night Katie first appeared. She told me not to remember until now and-"

"She came to you in a dream?" Katie yelled. "Then just tell us what to do! She knows the prophecy's better than anyone I know!"

"Okay, Gatomon, Burimon and Godivamon all need to stand together and you three have to stand around them."

"Okay. Done." Emily's voice. "Oh their songs are starting to become over-whelming! They're full of fear!" A flash of aqua shone vaguely in the dark.

"I hope everyone is okay and not hurt." Katie murmured. A flash of red joined the aqua.

"I want things to be okay." Kari sighed. A flash of pink joined the red and aqua.

"Now what do we do Joe?"

"You're following it perfectly! Now I need you to say-"

"We know. All of a sudden, we know what we need to say." Slowly, in the order of Emily, Katie and Kari, they chanted-

"Let me guard."

"Let me go"

"Let my"

"Music"

"Concern"

"Light"

"Take me higher" This line was said together.

"Let my Music"

"Concern"

"Light"

"Unleash the true ones within. Let her truth shine through!" This was said together also. There the light from each crest shone until they were connected in a triangle. 

Joe looked around in the dark. Suddenly, he could see the glowing figures of Emily, Katie, Kari, Goobermon, Burimon and Gatomon. Mimi stopped crying, Tai and Matt stopped trying to escape, Sora snapped out of her shock, Tk clamed down, and Izzy stopped shaking. They all clutched a master-ball as the glow became stronger.

Outside the darkness, the shadow figure of VenomDevimon stood next to the suspended figures of the Guardians of the Universe. "Soon my pretties, the Digidestined will be gone and so will you spirit captors. Soon your spirits will have to return to their original bodies and then I will have enough power to control both worlds!" Then, the darkness exploded and seven battered Digidestined stood holding seven master-balls. "What? Well I'll deal with you later. Such a pity though, that the GQ and their Digimon had to die to save you."

"You can't" The voice came from Emily but it wasn't hers "kill me." The Digidestined parted to reveal six figures. Three of them were Emily, Kari and Katie who were still transformed, only they were transformed in a new way. Their tops and skirts were like armor, made of light-weight metal, while a tiara with seven spikes glistened on Emily's head. Lightning bolts were on Emily's cheeks, the rising sun was on Kari's and hourglasses were on Katie's. "We are the Guardians of the universe, Guardians of the known worlds." They said in unison. Then in turn, with voices that weren't theirs, "Modova"

"Catalina"

"Godiva"

The other three figures stepped forward. One of them was recognized as Angewoman. To her far left stood Dessamon, the ultimate level of Burimon. She wore woodsy green dress that was cut off on one side to reveal her leg which was tied up in a knee-high boot. Her green hair hung in loose tresses and her eyes glowed copper.

To Dessamon's right, stood Godivamon, the ultimate level of Goobermon. She wore a deep red gown and fingerless gloves. Her rainbow streaked hair flowed behind her as she walked forward on bare feet on a floating golden disk. Together, the three of them said "We are the Guardians of the universe, Guardians of the Digital unknown worlds." Then in turn, "Angewoman, goddess of good"

"Dessamon, goddess of fate"

"Godivamon, goddess of all that is destiny"

Emily, Katie and Kari joined their Digimon and, together, they all said "We are the Guardians of the Universe."

"What? This can't happen!" VenomDevimon looked around in horror. "But then you forget. I'm a shadow, I can always get away…"

"No." Emily closed her eyes and crossed her arms over her chest.

"No." Katie put her hand together and closed her eyes.

"No." Kari held her arms over her head. Then they each released their positions and a force field surrounded the shadow.

Emily looked at Godivamon, Dessamon and Angewoman. "Finish him."

"Heaven's charm!" The cross of light departed from Angewoman's arms.

"Fate of Evil!" A red orb appeared in Dessamon's hands. She placed it in the center of Heaven's charm.

"Wrong's destruction!" the disk floated out from under Godivamon's feet and sucked Heaven's charm and Fate of Evil into it. Then it flew at VenomDevimon. There was a screeching sound as the shadow was ripped apart. Everyone was thrown backwards except the six Guardians. "We must leave soon. But we leave you this gift." Godivamon turned to the Digidestined as her disk returned under her feet. "Destiny's reward!"

"Fate of Good!" A clear orb appeared in Dessamon's hands as a thin gold disk slid off of Godivamon's. They merged, and a pure white light spread through everything. 

Eevee lay on Gary's stomach in misery, listening to the battle outside. Then she heard Godivamon and Dessamon leave their parting gift and a pure light shone into everything. What was this feeling?

Joe opened his eyes and sat up. He had such a pure feeling in himself right now. Where had it come from? Then he remembered, Godivamon. He looked over to where they had stood. There was nothing there but two digieggs and Salamon, who lay passed out with Kari, Emily and Katie who had returned to normal. "Emily!" He ran to her side.

"Mmm go away Katie! Gimme five more minutes and I'll get the gum out of Betsy's hair in a while." Emily muttered.

"Emily! Come on! It's me!"

"Joe?" Her eye fluttered open. "Joe, what happened? I felt Godiva's power take over me completely and then…well, did we win?"

"Yeah. Of course. And all thanks to you six."

"Hey where's Candy? OH MY GOD!!!" Emily grabbed Candymon's Digiegg.

"Huh?" Katie's eyes snapped open. "Woah! What happened here and why is my Digimon an egg?"

"They're resting!" giggled Tk. "But I know how to hatch 'em! Just rub them real gently!"

Emily rubbed hers and then a small blue puffball with a big black koala nose came out. "Aaaw how cuuuute!!!"

"Moya! Moya!" It squeaked.

In the meantime, Katie had rubbed her egg and small yellow horse shaped blob with tiny fluffy ears popped out. "Ooooh! Cute!"

"Cola cola!"

"Let's see, that's Moyamon and Colamon, the baby form of Candymon and Bunnymon." Izzy clicked around on his laptop.

Emily and Katie looked at each other, "Cuteness factor, 10!"

"Does that mean we're not cute?" Everyone turned to see Agumon, Gabumon, Biyomon, Palmon, Patamon, Gomamon and Tentomon standing together. Suddenly, they were tackled by Tai, Matt, Sora, Izzy, Mimi, and Tk. Gomamon had already perched himself on Joe's shoulder.

"Hey Joe, come here!" Emily pulled Joe and Gomamon over to the hut Gary had first come out of. "Come with me to check on Eevee."

As they got closer to the hut they heard a voice. It was soft and gentle, speaking soothingly. "Gary? Gary wake up! Come on." Emily and Joe peered in the window to see a beautiful tanned woman with long brown hair, wearing a white dress. She stood over the passed out Gary, gently trying to revive him.

"Is that a cheerleader?" Emily made a face. She didn't like cheerleaders.

"Gary?" He stirred. "Gary, you're okay!"

"Eevee! Where's Eevee? Is she okay?" Gary jumped up. But his wasn't the evil possessed Gary they had seen before. This Gary had a light in his eyes. Emily whispered to Joe that Gary's' song was okay.

"Gary, when you were struck by that darkness, you became possessed and-"

"Oh my God! I killed Eevee!! Oh no!!! I'll never be able to forgive myself!"

"Gary! Eevee's okay! I'm Eevee!"

"What? How could you be her? She's a Pokemon."

"You didn't let me finish. After you became possessed, we ended up here in this place called the Digiworld. You caught a bunch of Digimon and I decided to try to save you and everyone else by finding the legendary Digidestined. I found them and they came to save you and some people you'd kidnapped, called the Guardians. The darkness that possessed you left, you passed out, and I pulled you over here. Then I heard someone leave what they called a 'parting gift' and a white light shone throughout everything. When I opened my eyes, I had become a human. But it's only just for enough time so I can tell you something."

"Tell me something? If anything it's about how much you hate me for being so cruel while I was possessed." 

"No Gary. This is something else. I love you."

"What?"

"I love you Gary. I've loved you since the day first saw you outside the Professor's house. I waited a long time to finally be with you Gary, and I'll always be happy, just being with you." She began to fade. "Just remember, I love you." She kissed him on the cheek, then shrank down and became regular Eevee.

"Eevee! I wish you had told me sooner!" Gary scooped up Eevee in his arms and hugged her tightly.

"Ee vee ee! Eee vee ee vee eee?"

"Yeah I'm great! I feel great and I'm so happy to be with you!"

"Ee vee ee vee ee vee!" She nuzzled his chin.

"I know! And I vow you'll always be my first and only love!" He grinned.

"Ee vee ee!"

"Okay! You're right! You'll always be my first love." "How sweet!" Emily said too loudly. Gary looked up, startled. "Oh I'm sorry. I'm Emily, one of the Digidestined. And this is Joe, a Digidestined too."

"Um, hi. I'm Gary."

"Yes, we know."

"I'm sorry if I injured you or any of your Digimon while I was possessed." He lowered his head.

"It wasn't your fault. Besides, the Guardians of the Universe took care of your possessor, VenomDevimon. It was, actually, the combined darkness of two evil digimon that the Digidestinde defeated before I came here."

"Where are these Guardians? I'd like to apologize to them for kidnapping them."

"They're gone. Once the power holding them was gone, they were teleported back to their planet, Orgisian." Emily sighed as she looked around. 

"Ee ee vee eevee vee ee vee ee." Eevee jumped from Gary's arms onto Emily's shoulder.

"You're one of the Guardians?" Gary looked in amazement at Emily and Moyamon.

"Yeah, well…" Emily blushed and shifted on her feet.

"That's right!" Joe proudly put his arm around Emily's shoulder.

"You saved me." Gary stepped forward and took Emily's hand. "Thank you. You saved me and other innocent people."

"Hey let's not give me all the credit!" Emily laughed nervously. "Hey where are all your cheerleaders?"

"What cheerleaders?" The hut was empty of everything, save a few pokeballs around Gary's waist.

"I guess when Godivamon and Dessamon left their gift, it sent things back to normal." Gomamon spoke up. "I'm Gomamon!"

"Oh, um hi. You can talk?"

"Of course!" Gomamon laughed. "He's talking this better than you did Joe!"

"Hey! That's not funny!" Joe smatted Gomamon lightly on the head.

Emily walked slowly out of the hut, Gary at her side while Joe and Gomamon argued behind her. "How come you didn't go back to your world with everything else?"

"I don't know…" 

Suddenly, Moyamon digivolved to Minamon. "It's because of Dessamon's parting gift, Emily. It's called Fate of good, and it puts things the way they should have been. I guess Gary's coming here was part of fate, so he stayed."

"Oh. Well what about Godivamon's attack?" Emily let Gary hold Minamon.

"That was called Destiny's Reward. It gives everything a pure, beautiful feeling and, for some, it will grant a greatly wanted wish. Like it did with Eevee."

"Ah, I see." Emily tickled Eevee under her chin. "Well, why don't you come with us Gary?"

"Oh I don't want to intrude on the Digidestined party."

"You won't be. It's always good to have more allies, and it's not exactly safe out on your own."

"Well if it doesn't bother anyone else, sure I'll come."

"Great! By the way, what do you have on in those, um pokeballs?"

"Oh these?" Gary held up one of his pokeballs. "I've got a charmeleon, a hitmochan, a nidoking and an archanine. And then there's Eevee who I'll never put in one of these."

"Cool." Emily and Gary traded Minamon for Eevee again. "Then let's go tell Tai and everyone else we've got company! Come on Joe!"

"Huh? Oh okay! Coming!" Joe ran after them. _This is great! We did it! The Guardians are safe, the evil's gone and Emily's happy._ He snuck up behind Emily and put his arms around her waist. "Gotcha!"

"Ah! Joe!" Emily laughed and turned to face him. "Picking up my habits I see." She kissed him. He kissed her back.

"Hey you two! Get a room!" yelled Katie as Colamon digivolved to Mikumon. Then Matt tapped her on the shoulder.

"Hey Katie… Uh, I wanted to say that you were really great out there, saving us all and everything. And I was wondering… uh…"

"You were wondering if…" Matt and Katie blushed.

"Oh heck with it!" Matt grabbed Katie around the waist and kissed her.

"Why do I suddenly feel nauseous?" Mikumon muttered to Minamon.

"Try coughing up a fur-ball. That always makes ME feel better." Salamon joined the two in-training Digimon.

"There you are!" Kari ran over to Salamon.

"Okay everyone! I have an announcement to make!" Tai stood up on a tree stump. "That means everyone has to stop making out and listen!" Everyone stopped what they were doing and looked at Tai. "First of all, I want everyone to say hi to Gary who'll be joining us. This is the UNPOSSESSED Gary, so we shouldn't have to worry about any problems."

"H- hi!" Gary blushed and looked around.

"I'm Tai and these are my friends from camp! This is Sora-"

"Tai! We've already heard you do that a hundred times!" Matt whined. "Let someone else do the introductions."

"I'll do it!" Izzy jumped up. "I'm Izzy and this is Mimi." Mimi waved. "this is Matt and Tk." Tk flashed a grin "This is Sora, Tai and Kari. And that's Katie and Joe and Emily."

"It's an honor to be traveling with you guys." Gary smiled.

"Okay and the next matter of business is," Tai returned to his tree stump. "What should we do next?"

"Let's go home and take the Digimon with us!" yelled Tk.

"Okay who likes the idea of going back to Earth with our Digimon for a while?" Everyone raised their hand, but Gary.

"Come on Gary! You can stay with Katie and me!" Emily nudged him in the arm.

"Really? I don't want to be-"

"Oh shut up! Just come and stay wit us! I like your company."

"Really? Okay." He raised his hand. 

"Okay, then it's unanimous. Digivices in the center, people!" Tai held out his digivice and, after making sure their Digimon were with them, everyone did the same.

"Um, I don't have a…" Gary stared to back away.

"Oh you!" Emily grabbed his hand and asked Joe to hold Minamon for her. "If I'm going, you're going." The digivices began to glow.

"We're going home again!" Matt smiled.

"You mean you're going to cook for me again Matt?" Gabumon asked.

"Yeah."

The glow became stronger and a flash enveloped them all. The next moment, they were home.

And they were all home together.

The End


End file.
